Indie game developer cancels Vibe-coded zombie shooter after San Francisco authorities condemn ‘dehumanizing’ game
The developer of a zombie game set in San Francisco has pulled the game and issued a public apology after city officials condemned the title for depicting its citizens as “zombies.”
Tenderloin Night Shift was an atmospherically coded first-person shooter created by independent developer Pierre-Louis Biojout over the course of a weekend using the OpenAI Codex. As you probably deduced from its title, the game takes place in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, an area infamous for its high crime rate and unhoused population that is often casually compared to Los Angeles’ Skid Row.
In the game, players use a gun to clear the net of “zombies”. Some of these undead enemies wear construction uniforms or ride on motorized scooters, while others carry food delivery backpacks, clearly having been infected on the job. Still others are depicted doing the “fentanyl fold”, a position in which the body is bent forward at the waist, most commonly displayed by fentanyl users who appear to have been frozen while standing.
“San Francisco couldn’t fix the net, so I monetized it,” Biojout said on social media. In the game, he sold digital advertising space for $100 a week, representing some of the real-world businesses seen on billboards in his polygonal recreation of the neighborhood.
It didn’t take long for San Francisco city officials to become aware of the title. Talk to NCB Bay AreaMayor Daniel Lurie said, “There is no consideration of people’s tastes or terrible ideas. This is a bad idea, and we reject it. It does not reflect the values of San Francisco.”
In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin, called the game “deeply disturbing and unacceptable.”
“Turning violence against real people, including unhoused people, into entertainment is dehumanizing and should never be normalized,” he said. “I am encouraged to see that the majority of San Franciscans recognize that this crosses the line and refuse to defend it.”
While Biojout previously bragged about the backlash on its social media accounts, it later removed the game from its online platform and issued a public apology for how its project represented the citizens of San Francisco. He also revealed that he was inspired by an Alcatraz-themed Call of Duty map and said that he often passes by the Tenderloin on his way to work.
“The game was not intended to provoke or depict shootings of real people. Its characters draw inspiration from a broad cross-section of San Francisco, from different backgrounds and backgrounds, including people who work in tech. The familiar city details and Easter eggs are part of what makes playing with friends fun,” he told the Chronicle.
Speaking to NBC Bay Area, Bijout said: “It was not intended to depict people shooting real people or to target any particular demographic or group. »
Additionally, Biojout revealed that it had refunded advertisers who promoted its game and deleted all of its posts about it on social media. He also donated all of the game’s revenue to Delancey Street Foundationa San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that provides rehabilitation services and job training to convicted felons and drug addicts.
“I built and published a zombie game set in the streets of San Francisco. The setting and manner in which I promoted it demonstrated poor judgment. Targeting people struggling with addiction or homelessness was never my intention,” he wrote on Twitter/X.
The game was available on Biojout’s NanoCorp AI website, a platform that runs online businesses using AI agents. It has since been deleted and the page is no longer available at the time of writing.
Image credits: plbiojout
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience in the gaming and entertainment industry, she has a strong background in the fighting game community, influencer news and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
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