Looks like another Sweet Baby Inc connected game studio is biting the dust, as it has been announced that Avalanche Studios Group is closing one of their game studios located in Liverpool, England.
In an announcement made over on the official Avalanche Studios Group website, they have stated that they will be closing their Liverpool studio, along with downsizing the staff for their Malmo and Stockholm offices due to “current challenges to our business and the industry.”
While this news may surprising to some: Avalanche Studios is no stranger to layoffs, as they also had to lay off 10% of their staff, along with closing down their New York and Montreal offices back in 2024.
While most of Avalanche Studios games in the past have been DEI-free, their downfall started when they started to release games that were less than impressive, such as Generation Zero, a co-op stealth shooter set in an apocalyptic version of Sweden. Many gamers have stated that Generation Zero was decent, while others called the game “uninspired” and “dull. They have also released an open-world rougelite game called “Ravenbound” which is currently sitting on a “Mixed” reviews rating on Steam, as well as a hunting and fishing game series (Call of the Wild) that only appealed to a niche audience.
Chances are that due to the lack of well-performing game sales, they may have ended up taking ESG loans and investments in order to make up for their operating costs, as they now proudly display their new found focus on DEI directly on their website.
How Sweet Baby Inc is connected
At the moment: There has only been one known game that Sweet Baby Inc worked on with Avalanche Studios: an upcoming game known as Contraband, which supposed to be a co-op smuggling game based in the 1970s. It was originally stated on the official Sweet Baby Inc website that they worked on “sensitivity reading, character bios, and scriptwriting” for the game before it was promptly removed from the site due to online backlash.
The internet reacts
In a post made by Mark Kern (Grummz) on X/Twitter, many users have expressed their opinions on the announcement:
“Never work with the stinky baby” -@EndymionYT
“Studios still think chasing ESG ratings is more profitable than making a good product. Up to us to keep proving that is not the case, over and over, until the message finally gets through.” -@Barktooth364432
“they should bring out more just cause games, but nooo, they had to experiment with swedish robot survival horror that f***ing sucked ass. what is the point of a shooter game against robots, if you have no reason to fight them??? you only waste bullets and rations. no cool stuff.” -@Rey_Sword
As one of the users above mention: I was a fan of the Just Cause series, especially Just Cause 3, as an open-world sandbox action game, there hasn’t been anything quite like it since its release. I even enjoyed playing Generation Zero for awhile, even if it was kind of a paint-by-numbers co-op shooter featuring killer robots. Avalanche Studios has released some fun and engaging games in the past, but the focus on DEI and ESG funding has clearly affected them in more ways than one. With several major layoffs in the books for Avalanche Studios, I do hope this company will turn things around and focus on what the customers want, instead of what their investment overlords want.
