Independent developer Pierre-Louis Biojout has removed his zombie game, Tenderloin Night Shift, and issued a public apology after San Francisco city officials denounced the title for its depiction of the city's residents.
The first-person shooter, created over a weekend using OpenAI's Codex, was set in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. In the game, players used guns to eliminate 'zombies' depicted with elements referencing the area's challenges, including food delivery uniforms and poses associated with fentanyl use. Biojout had stated on social media that he "monetized" the neighborhood, selling digital ad space within the game.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie called the game a "bad one" that does not represent the city's values. Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin district, described the game as "deeply disturbing and unacceptable," adding that "turning violence against real people, including unhoused people, into entertainment is dehumanizing and should never be normalized."
Initially, Biojout appeared to embrace the controversy, but he later removed the game from his platform. In an apology, he explained that the game drew inspiration from a Call of Duty map and his observations of the Tenderloin. He clarified that the intention was not to depict shooting real people or target any specific demographic.
Biojout has since refunded advertisers, removed promotional social media posts, and donated the game's revenue to the Delancey Street Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that aids individuals recovering from addiction and those with criminal records. The game was previously available on Biojout's NanoCorp AI website, but the page is now inaccessible.