Coded Zombie Shooter After San Francisco Officials Condemn 'Dehumanizing' Game

Key Points:

• Independent developer Pierre-Louis Biojout created a zombie-themed first-person shooter game, Tenderloin Night Shift, set in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, depicting its residents as zombies, which sparked significant backlash from city officials.
• The game featured players shooting zombies resembling real-life residents, including those wearing work uniforms and displaying signs of drug addiction, which officials condemned as dehumanizing and inappropriate entertainment.
• San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Bilal Mahmood publicly denounced the game, emphasizing that it misrepresented the city’s values and normalized violence against vulnerable populations.
• Following the criticism, Biojout removed the game from his platform, issued a public apology, refunded advertisers, deleted related social media posts, and donated all game revenue to a local nonprofit supporting rehabilitation and vocational training.
• Biojout stated the game was not intended to target or provoke real people and was inspired by other video game maps, acknowledging poor judgment in how the project portrayed San Francisco’s citizens.