The Bendy Controversy, Explained | The Story of Kindly Beast

[@GardenVarietea]

Don't worry guys they're just really trying to get in character of Joey Drew

[@someact2332]

Eyo, hol up.

[@angryboi595]

Ayo what

[@ninjasonic2270]

Wew

[@luckystarz5895]

Nice theory 😂😂😂

[@kama-ta3865]

who?

[@yufaelia]

So basically Kindly Beast did in 3 years what their own fictional company did in like 30 years

[@austinparker5053]

Now that's what I call efficiency!

[@Gender_Ascender]

"Get it done, good enough"

[@jasonsummy7924]

Speedrunning

[@sonicrunn3r895]

Joey Drew Studios: I am Speed Kindly Beast: Oh, you're speed? Well Kindly Beast is TRIPLE SPEED!

[@xaviergildon5576]

dream better move over, there's a new speedrunner in the game.

[@HiHello-cw9vc]

It’s really scary how they’re literally mimicking their own game in real life.

[@brunobucciaratiswife]

Soon, an ink demon will rise and create edgy mayhem!

[@mrsmug8686]

A company that predicted it's own future truly anomaly

[@HiHello-cw9vc]

@@brunobucciaratiswife *please no*

[@HiHello-cw9vc]

@@mrsmug8686 yep

[@brunobucciaratiswife]

@@HiHello-cw9vc it has began.

[@TheRealChrisTDH]

I think the biggest problem with Showdown Bandit's sales was a lack of marketing. I didn't even know the game had been released before watching this video!

[@ChrisPortalBits]

I think they didn't advertise it much because The Board knew the game was having such a troubled development, and didn't want to overhype it. If more people knew about the game and then realized how shallow it was, then Kindly Beast would possibly lose those customers in the future.

[@frannielmartinez]

@Axcys X2, what the hell was even that game? Can i even download it?

[@SharkieHusky]

The only thing I remember is the plushies that were usually found with the bendy plushies you can't find the showdown bandit plushies anymore since the game failed

[@SharkieHusky]

@AlphaSpook i really dont see anyone having one except for the people who knew about the game such as Mike from SuperHorrorBro it was not alot tho

[@hdanimatesorsomething]

They probably thought that it’s Kindley Beast, they creators of Bendy, they’ll know. They obviously shouldn’t have made that game or maybe even the Bendy sequel/whatever. No matter how great it will become. I really hope BaTDR is a hit or something so they can maybe get past the half a billion lawsuit. I don’t know what to think, they’re either dumb or making the games a lot better.

[@pariahmutt3589]

“Well his ex-wife follows me on Twitter so..” that’s a fucking power move, man.

[@itsjustjuju7945]

That's alot of likes without replies

[@MoltenMonsters]

my man literally cucked mike lmfao

[@Quackervoltz]

@@MoltenMonsters Good

[@ValentinaMQuetzal]

Holy suuit

[@eciyahsmalls-sanders8880]

@@MoltenMonsters aint really cucking if there not in a realtionship

[@thegoon3840]

The fact that they practically made a game that predicted what happened to their own company

[@FalconHere]

is ironic

[@laudj_art]

Very ironic

[@nexieadr]

Very very very ironic

[@SomeKirbyHater]

Definition of ironic

[@eggychoi4703]

very very very very very ironic

[@charmeranimations]

To make a long story short, Mike believes he created/owns Bendy. This would kinda explain why TheMeatly has stated silent.

[@Knuxkles]

It's Joey and Henry all over again

[@anjavinding5412]

200th like

[@maymay5600]

@@Knuxkles alllll over again!

[@weepingwillows8953]

@@maymay5600 Seriously, it's wayy too accurate

[@GlamClan-xe3zi]

@@Knuxkles they bout to sacrifice people 😭

[@SuperWiiBros08]

I never knew this group of devs from Bendy were all through an awful mess damn.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Yeah, it’s nuts. What’s even crazier is that there’s been even more that’s happened since I’ve made this video. I’m working on a follow-up, but honestly this still covers most of it. I’m also surprised and kind of honored that you’ve seen my video. I never expected it to get this much attention, so I hope that it was informative, if not somewhat entertaining. :)

[@maninthemask6275]

Kinda cringe that you were trying to equate purchasing a product into some sort of moral thing like China is basically a totalitarian dictatorship and yet people still buy tons of stuff from there as we really trying to police people for buying a product.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@@maninthemask6275 I understand, but the topic of this video isn’t about China.

[@BeanOfBean]

He was making an analogy

[@MinimumRoach]

Holy fucking shit man why are you everywhere I go? Every damn video I see you in the comments, are you a fucking ghost cause ya hauntin me like one

[@Misteve101]

I was actually one of the winners for the very first fanart contest ( bendy with the umbrella ) Luckily the game wasnt that big so I did get compensated from the company PhatMojo for licensing my fanart into merch. Glad I entered that one and not the others :/ It's a shame I never knew about all this drama

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Yeah, what's worse is that I've spoken to artists whose art has appeared in books without credit or even permission. I was actually going to try and contact you, since your art is incredibly popular within Bendy (Mike Mood even bragged about your shirt outsold Overwatch merch at Hot Topic) and I was curious what your experience with KB was like. I'm glad you found this video and appreciate you giving some insight. I'm fairly antisocial so this has made that so much easier lol.

[@diskdrive6113]

Holy shit you helped with shaping my childhood, thank you so much

[@zicklane]

you're lying

[@Misteve101]

@@diskdrive6113 awh thank you so much!! 💓

[@dr.wyverstone8418]

Damn that was one of my favorite designs that came from the series.

[@perry5301]

The creator lied to us...

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Haha, I was THIS close to making that the video's title!

[@andrewthompsonandrew1909]

lol

[@birdboy16]

Oh sweet irony

[@mindyourownparsley9967]

BETRAYED ABANDONED

[@Ilycatsx728]

@@ChrisPortalBits cool

[@dabdabthethird2410]

Reminder to artists: no matter how big they are or how nice they seem do NOT submit art or effort to something that requires you to wavier your rights to it (and always read the T&C). Kindly beasts obviously did that so they wouldn’t have to pay designers for shirts. Sounds like what a they did at 18:42. Spent just enough money to get what they needed and then stole their work

[@starsiadraws]

And $2 per shirt for the second contest?? That's terrible. Most graphic designers get 10-20% for their designs being sold on merch.

[@randompromises1038]

eugh i plan to be an artist when i grow up and i hear so many nightmarish stories about how companies take everything they can possibly from the art they didn't even create

[@IDontReallyWantAYoutubeHandle]

Exactly, I knew exactly what was gonna happen when the competition came on, but two fuckin dollars?!? Jesus Christ!!!!

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

> do NOT submit art or effort to something that requires you to wavier your rights to it Unless you get paid well... right?

[@IDontReallyWantAYoutubeHandle]

@@thewhitefalcon8539 Maybe, but the whole wavier thing is just really suspicious in the first place. It implies that you're gonna do something that the artist wouldn't want you to do

[@charscreamAA]

If I had a nickel for every time Dark Deception tried to have a crossover and the people behind it ended up causing controversy I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice

[@nahuelamonte9991]

holy shit you're right

[@edorasmarauder5761]

Accurate

[@the-postal-dude]

what was the other one?

[@anobody4606]

@@the-postal-dude Yandere Simulator.

[@the-postal-dude]

@@anobody4606 oh god not yandere simulator (ty for telling me btw)

[@scenessalsajar]

Who knew that a company that makes a franchise about a broken company would eventually turn into one?

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Right? It’s like writing a book called “don’t do this” and then using it as a checklist on what to do.

[@scenessalsajar]

@@ChrisPortalBits now that's a bIg BrAiN move

[@XenobladeNerd]

Same deal with cyberpunk, corporate hell makes shit bad, the games corporate management made shit bad

[@bahaedablackaceenthusiast9955]

Them not letting fans make fan games doesn't keep the community alive at all look at the fnaf and undertale community they're still alive and kicking thanks to fan games and various other stuff

[@Ch50304]

and also the Undertale creator lost money because fans are selling merchandise, plus Scot was raked over the coals when his team accidentally used a fanart..its not all roses.

[@bahaedablackaceenthusiast9955]

@@Ch50304yeah I can agree that things like those can happen but look at the good side of things you know you gotta stay optimistic

[@Ch50304]

@@bahaedablackaceenthusiast9955 yes, you're right.

[@falendemo546]

bahaethenoob135 79 --- and now Friday Night Funkin, but with mods instead of fan games.

[@understorymainchannel8326]

I can confirm

[@mrsurge4789]

Mike Mood seemed like the more ruthless and aggressive businessman while TheMeatly was forced to stand by and do what he said or else Mood'll lose his temper.

[@plague_doctor0237]

Kinda like Henry and Joey... Quite a freaky coincidence

[@FeralCat123]

Yep and the one guy defending him reminds me of Sammy Lawrence defending Joey

[@mrsurge4789]

@@FeralCat123 Didn’t Sammy rant constantly about Joey due to the work conditions in the studio though?

[@mafiadoge]

@@mrsurge4789 yeah, but at the time he always defended him

[@FeralCat123]

@@mrsurge4789 yeah he did lol but he also always defended Joey I mean when he was dating Susie and she lost her job Sammy chose Joey instead of her. He also defended Joey when people who worked at the studio came out against Joey about the bad working conditions Sammy responded in an interview and said something along the lines of “Joey works very hard and if people can’t handle it then they shouldn’t work here.” something like that.

[@p3gasus-M]

Bendy had so much potential. It's concept, it's characters, the fan theories, everything was looking so good for them.....until the final chapter or so. I didnt know about most of this stuff until watching this video. It's sad. But even alot the stuff in late game wasn't good, it's sad to see something that could have been so great turn out like this.

[@RockabillyHillbilly]

Same

[@Thetableishot]

@FilippoAndMind Uhhhh….reasons? I’m not entirely sure myself, I wasn’t that big of a Bendy elutus. So, it’s confusing on how people were so disappointed over it. It seemed to minuscule for the amount of scrutiny the ending received. 😅

[@themrplgthemrplg2872]

@FilippoAndMind I believe the ending was so hated because it was so anticlimatic in a way. After going through the harrowing experiences within, waiting for each and every chapter to come out, and theorizing all the while, one hopes for some kind of an answer at the very end. Ending the game on a time loop was, I think at least, pretty confusing. It didn't really answer many questions and instead brought up a new complicated element that wasn't set up properly. All the fans wanted was an ending, but what they got was the idea that the developers didn't actually have any ending in mind, that no answers actually existed in the first place. All build up and very little pay off.

[@RedLaundryBasket]

I still have no idea about the controversy, and I think Bendy is an amazing brand and has so much potential. It’s just the company behind it is just irl Joey drew studios. I hope they change, I really do, because I loved the franchise and games. Even if batdr is good, I will probably buy it still, but I can’t really enjoy it due the the company’s controversy. Even if they are the good guys seen as monsters (which I doubt), the controversy is still and thing. Bendy, good game and franchise, bad studio. Hope they change and that they can get it back together.

[@pirilon78]

@FilippoAndMind im going to explain from my perspective (i hated the ending): first of all they ruined bendy's character by turning him from a playful devil into a random beast with no personality. The final battle was very disappointing and felt extremely forced, and the ending itself of the battle with you just projecting an episode thats the ending of the series which kills bendy made no sense. Why didnt the owner (i dont even remember the name i think it was Joey) do it himself? And if that wasnt bad enough, the little satisfaction we had left from the ending was taken away from us because it wasnt an ending at all, it was a loop. Which is a generic af plot for indie horror games

[@taimakitty]

Man. And here I was thinking Bendy was just a one-time indie hit. Instead I get this deep rabbit hole. Good video at least, very informative and such.

[@jbdbibbaerman8071]

That's literally me as well. I was like, "Wait, they made more than one game?"

[@karalyna2004]

Yo I like your profile picture

[@SammEater]

I never heard about the other games either, the only knowledge I have of this game was back at its peak when every streamer that played horror games were playing this one.

[@selty]

I legit had no idea they made more than one game. I didn't even know the game I played was only one chapter lmao

[@luketfer]

@@selty I remember seeing some stuff about their other game but I ALWAYS got it confused with Gunstringer...

[@Zilkenian_Davenport]

To the question about gay characters being harder to write, the answer is: no. Gay characters are the same as any other character. Sexual preferences don't define a character, are just part of them. If someone has trouble writing a character that's homosexual, it means they're either putting way too much effort into showing they're gay, or have certain restrains about the entire concept of anything that's not hererosexual.

[@CMan-x7k]

Or the concerns that the character isn't good enough.

[@biichann6833]

Or they’re too scared if Twitter deems it not good enough (which it will no matter what) and send death threats to the creator

[@edorasmarauder5761]

Twitter mob is another factor

[@Zilkenian_Davenport]

@@edorasmarauder5761 Really? People are that childish?

[@MegabombGamer-rb5kh]

@@Zilkenian_Davenport You must not frequent Twitter then.

[@MaherandIbrahimsAvengers]

Remember when Iwata the president of nintendo of america cut is own salery so he didn't have to fire any employees yet Mike Mood laid off more then 50 for seemly no reason

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Yeah. What’s worse is that Mike had a gaming podcast during the end of Iwata’s time as president, and Mike talked about how “Nintendo is going to become the next Sega” and how “they suck as a company and don’t care about their fans.” I’m making a follow-up video that covers that old podcast, and much more. But yeah, there’s plenty of irony throughout this whole situation.

[@HyperrealisticLuigi]

@@ChrisPortalBits more ironic since iwata and reggie were some of the humblest ceos I've ever seen

[@ImArduous]

Hold up I know you

[@faultf4]

@@HyperrealisticLuigi And Shigeru's....fine. *I mean, we got Origami King, and that game's good*

[@HyperrealisticLuigi]

@@faultf4 i don't think shigerus the ceo

[@Charpurrr]

"The Creator Lied to Us" has an entirely different meaning now

[@Huxley_Day]

What we learned from Cuphead. Don't deal with the devil.

[@Ilycatsx728]

A lesson that I learned well

[@ponikoTV]

true

[@muichirotokitou2615]

A simple spell, but an effective one.

[@pipple_]

@@Ilycatsx728 when i meddled, made a bet, and now it's settled, say farewell to elder kettle 🤪

[@Ilycatsx728]

@@pipple_ I am on a adventure indentured

[@NotCOPPAFTCA]

Keep an eye on Mike. Make sure he doesn't start harvesting souls.

[@mikebakster2540]

Who says he hasn't already

[@blueiscooll]

Mike drew

[@mikebakster2540]

@@blueiscooll joey mood?

[@Ihaveagasmask]

@@mikebakster2540 who said they *fired*

[@Anestheticcritera]

@@blueiscooll Paul stein

[@facundomanzur5535]

Mike Mood actually turned into Joey Drew

[@memoryloss4327]

It's interesting, it feels like what's happening at game studio is a resemblance of what happened in the game. A bunch of lies, censorship, and keeping dark secrets from the public so the run off the fanbase

[@dboyrex6580]

@@memoryloss4327 BRO i was thinking of the same thing like say take The Meatly hes the actual creator of bendy just like henry BUT Mike Mood says that he is the owner of it to or that he created him( I might be wrong but idk so dont take it wrong people or mike if your reading this) but in batim Joey claims HE created bendy kinda like Mike and also the company falls apart, Henry/ The Meatly leaves the company for some reason( in real life we don't know but in the games its because henry wants to spend time with his familly) and Joey/ Mike Mood stays behind and tries to make light of stuff and all of that. ALSO it simillar how if mike mood dose do this that I think in batim Joey fires allot of employees just like Mike and Joey also harrases his employes(btw I might be wrong with these stuff remmember that I dont know ok) "just" like Mike Mood and the employees now kinda hate the company and the fired ones kinda try and expose the company but Joey/Mike says that its all lies and he tries to hide it(again THIS IS WHAT IVE HEARED FROM THE VID ABOUT mike I don't know if it real or not) but yeah and I really hope Mike and The Meatly didn't break up but something funny or I guess scary would be if the same thing with Joey and Henry happens with Mike and The Meatly, like if Mike invites The Meatly to show him something in the old studio and all that they created turns into twistide thing like bendy is acctually ink bendy and ect. but this is just silly yet cool and scary thoughts.

[@dboyrex6580]

Also I wanna say that I do not hate Mike I think he might be able to fix all of this stuff and I still love the games he and The Meatly created like Batim, Batds, Showdown Bandit, And yet to come Batdr, also I still like Mike Mood and The Meatly and I don't know if Mike acctually did everything the fired employess clam and ect but I really hope Mike just makes everything right. I am just a little disoponted with Mike but I think he can make everything right and I still will like him.

[@hugoc.m.7727]

@@memoryloss4327 the game can see the F U T U R E

[@the-wizard-nutTc]

How ironic

[@bren_dan111]

Wow. Knowing the fact now that Kindly Beast had no clear story in mind for BATIM just really disappoints me. I spent years watching and making theories just to learn that the devs had no idea what they were doing. Looking back on BATIM it's so clear that after chapter 3 they had no idea where to take the story. So they just used fan theories and glued it together with chewing gum into the story. Instead of answering questions in the later chapters they instead add more.

[@SSMp315]

Nothing will ever replace the feeling of pure disappointment I felt when Wally wasn’t Bendy or there wasn’t a Bendy that tried to help us like Boris in the story and it wasn’t revealed that every worker was an ink monster that was killed then tossed into the ink machine in an attempt by Joey to make the ‘perfect version’ Bendy and Friends

[@kieranhair7892]

To be fair, this happens more than people care to realize. I mean, there are fan theories about FNaF that seem predicated on the idea that Scott Cawthon knew the plot of Sister Location when he made the first game. And while I'm having trouble finding it, I remember him responding to a livestream in a way that definitely seemed like he was only confirming their theories so he wouldn't have to think up any lore of his own. A lot of big horror fandoms reward the fans' theorycrafting rather than actually settling on real lore. It's a part of the industry.

[@irishhotshot6765]

@@SSMp315 That kinda sounds like you wanted something to happen but didn't get it not really on them

[@SSMp315]

@@irishhotshot6765 To be fair, all the plot points I mentioned where pretty popular theories at the time I was into the game, I’d be fine with any ending if it wasn’t the time loop and explained something vital about the people in the studio instead of a time-loop with context clues you have to string together to get an answer.

[@irishhotshot6765]

@@SSMp315 Again your going of theory's most of the time they won't be true which is ok but you went in with expectations without them being founded

[@Bean12_3]

IDK what the worst point about this whole controversy is, but the fact that lil Mikey Mood had his MOM get on reddit to defend him in the AMA is pathetically funny. Like, "mooom people are questioning me!"

[@Bleeperblopper497]

Shame that your pfp died

[@benedictdwyer2608]

“MOMMYYYY!!! My audience is bullying meeeeee, helllpppppppp!! WAAAAAHHHHHHH”

[@man-spider389]

"MOOOOOM, PHINEAS AND FERB ARE QUESTIONING ME ON REDDIT"

[@Quackervoltz]

"WAAAAH MOMMY! THE OTHER KIDS ARE MEAN TO ME BECAUSE MY GAME SUCKS AND MY FACE IS STOOPID!'

[@kellanlevi5663]

I came to comment the same thing. It's unbelievably pathetic and such kindergarten behavior from a grown ass man

[@WhicheverComa]

Hello! One of the winners of the Fanart contest mentioned at 5:24 here! A interesting factoid about the contest was the lack of moderation in the shipping of prizes. The promise of winning the contest was the feature of the fanart within the game, as well as the "Bendy Box" (Nothing was ever mentioned about the designs being sold on T-Shirts to us, I found out through Twitter lmao). The boxes themselves were shipped almost 9 months after the contest had ended, with no word from anyone on when/how they would be arriving. I got in contact with several artists, who also confirmed that their boxes had not arrived. This period was long after the hype of the game had died down, so it's veryyyy strange that they took that long to ship.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Hey, thanks for watching my video! If your timing is correct, then that would mean your work was being sold on shirts MONTHS before you even received your prize. That just sucks, and I'm so sorry that you and the other winners were not a higher priority for the company. Especially when you work wasn't featured in the game and you weren't even receiving a cut of the profits from the shirts. I will say though, you certainly deserved to win! All of the winning entries well all wonderful!

[@WhicheverComa]

@@ChrisPortalBits Thank you so much!! There are a ton of interesting things that happened with my experience with the contest. When I entered I was around 17 so I didn't really understand the full weight of what I was signing off, but now it's super interesting how if you dive into their lore and such, the fanarts themselves have been used for world building and book sales (all within the fine print of the contract), with even a subtle line/nod at the bottom of my piece leading to actual plot development. Mine as well as a bunch of others have had them developed into full comics and such, with no real credit given to us afterwards, even though that was the one thing technically promised to us. (Example of mine can be found here on the wiki: bendy.fandom.com/wiki/Construction_Corruption_(Comic) )

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@@WhicheverComa Really? That's awful, especially if that's a breach of the contract. Many people use contracts like that as a defense for the company treating artists so poorly, but they at least have to keep up their end of the deal. Was this contract ever made public anywhere by chance? I'd love to look into it further if I can.

[@WhicheverComa]

@@ChrisPortalBits Sadly I do not believe they ever were, mine is likely deep in my email somewhere lol

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@@WhicheverComa lol, that’s alright. Just thought I’d check since this whole situation is something I’m still trying to better understand. Still, I appreciate you letting me know what you could. This video’s reach has continued to surprise me!

[@thatanimegirlwiththecape4807]

Plot twist: They didnt fire their workers. They trapped them in an infinite loop in a massive facility that goes deeply down in the caverns of the earth

[@Crygear]

thats how to make the undead hate you

[@hardhattedwarcriminal2000]

I am the 1000th like 👽

[@MinimumRoach]

Kindly beast really pulled a “Joey drew studios will be real in 5 seconds”

[@Criegrrunov]

As someone who likes to write stories and analyse lore of games, finding out they didn't had anything planned for the story of the game and stole from fan theories just breaks my heart. Not having anything planned and building up as they go is not wrong, but both lying about having it planned and stealing fan theories to make them cannon is.

[@anobody4606]

Most writers don't plan the whole timeline, world, and character backstories in one sitting. However, just hopping onto the ideas of their fans and not doing much to subvert them or make it their own is iffy. :/

[@octodaddy877]

@@anobody4606 I'd say after they decided to develop Chapter 2 they should have actually gotten an idea of where the story should go over the entire rest of the chapters. Not everything of course, but just a general road map so that when you put the chapters together it actually makes sense. I'm going to guess that Chapter 1 was just meant to be a one-off (similar to FNAF 1, actually) but then the game blew up, so they didn't really know what to do.

[@danielshore1457]

@@anobody4606 I'd say that if you are creating a story have at least a mostly completed backstory as that will make it easier fo you to know what direction to take

[@anobody4606]

@@danielshore1457 For a video game like this, for sure. Some people can start from nothing and still end up with something cohesive, but most have to at least brainstorm some things before writing any long narratives lol.

[@mollybennett3291]

Especially when they don’t credit the fans. If your going to use fan theories tell the fans from the start, and ask if they’re chill with that. Don’t just ascend fannon with out letting people know that’s the olan

[@nb8817]

Makes a game about a company whose creator exploited his workers, stole their likeness, stole others ideas without telling or crediting them, and “fired”anyone who discovered the truth or questioned him, all in pursuit of bringing “his” ideas to life and making more money then his competitors. Mood: let’s do this again but in real life this time 🥳 You write what you know I guess 🤷‍♀️

[@Quackervoltz]

Why are there so many Joey Drew stans again?

[@iinkkss]

@@Quackervoltz I have no idea

[@cantthinkofaname5046]

@@Quackervoltz people like well written villains i suppose

[@cassiekomodo]

@@Quackervoltz why are you here

[@radiantdream5523]

Okay, you've haunted my "watch next" for long enough.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Haha, I'm sorry about that. Hope you enjoyed the video though

[@keen96]

same lmao

[@akuma4321]

thank god i'm not the only person who's been seeing this video in my recommendations for too long

[@meetwheatpodcast9078]

@@ChrisPortalBits cheescak

[@yokuutsu9097]

same.

[@kateb6699]

I think a lot of people are being too easy on TheMeatly. At best he was a bystander to Mood's actions and at worst he was complicit himself. I know it's tempting to try and find a "good guy" in this situation but I think most higher-ups had a hand in everything that went wrong.

[@danielshore1457]

I think when it's a situation like this where its a loved game and community (for the most part) people want to find a good guy in this to keep hope alive that the company can continue but let's be honest there's not a 'hero' in this sitiation

[@testerwulf3357]

I feel everyone was guilty to some degree..some just very lightly but others more guilty of worse crimes..standing by and watching it happen is a crime of it's own if you can do something whilst doing all the harassment theft and stuff are worse bigger crimes.

[@tatarchan5212]

Walrus and carpenter situation. It's easier to paint walrus as a villain and carpenter as an innocent one while it's actually both guilty in different degrees.

[@clyax113]

I don't know if this is true or not, but I appreciate you pointing out why we should be suspicious.

[@alexkartoons3659]

I used to LOVE batim. But seeing this, makes me sad. I had drawings out the wazoo, plushies, t-shirts, I even cried when chapter 5 came out because I thought it was over. Now hearing about the employees being fired, games having bugs and said bugs not being fixed, I really don't like what's happening. And I wish I could change it.

[@wintersong2337]

Yeah people put blood, sweat, and tears into such a beautiful thing. And what does he do? Treat some AWESOME people like dirt.

[@AgarthanExecutioner]

I relate. I had a shit load of merch I've got a bendy pin on my jacket and I'm thinking of taking it off and replacing it with something else after watching this.

[@Bopperann]

Become successesful and rich. Buy the smoldering husks of remains of these franchises. Retcon using actual dedicated fans. Profit

[@ShakedownDreams]

@@AgarthanExecutioner put a Cuphead pin there instead, a more worthy rubber hose game

[@AgarthanExecutioner]

@@ShakedownDreams I ended up replacing it with a Troupe Master Grimm pin lol Wish I could find some cuphead pins

[@gooseofchaosandruin530]

All of these allegations and controversies were awful, but dare I say the worst thing to come out of this situation was “ink daddy”

[@randomindividual948]

Do I want to know what an "Ink Daddy" is?

[@PLAGUE-KARM]

@@randomindividual948 you really don’t

[@somethingwithbungalows]

@@PLAGUE-KARM pleeeeease? I’ve been on the internet for over 9 years now, I can handle it lol

[@LowIntSpecimen]

@@PLAGUE-KARM Tell us, I'd look it up but I really don't feel like going on a watch list Edit: I found it. pain.

[@LowIntSpecimen]

It's here 47:43

[@blockotheblock5672]

I get severely sad with how much bad reputation the indie horror scene always gets

[@ms.pirate]

Yeah, and i like horror games too. :'

[@ebkits10]

Our last hope is Scott Cawthon, if he can safely manage under the microscope, we might have at least one or two genuinely cool indie horror games devs

[@abit359]

@@ebkits10 Luckily, Scott does seem to be a legitimately good person and we do have years of evidence to show that

[@ozvoid1245]

@@abit359 I mean, whether you like it or not, Scott was (or maybe still is) a Christian man, who at least wasn't lost when it came to morals, which gives me a little bit extra faith in his intentions, without being religious myself.

[@camoking3609]

@@ebkits10 kinda funny bc it seems like his FNAF project was what propelled indie horror into the limelight

[@MisterJohnDoe]

I really liked how BATIM looked even with its gameplay being a little tedious at times. It sucks to hear that the writing didn’t actually have much effort put into it and kind of being ripped off from fans.

[@D_YellowMadness]

It was also an incredibly pale rip off of a free game with a similar aesthetic, similar gameplay, & an axe but tons more quality called Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion.

[@jonathanwarner9231]

@@D_YellowMadness I don't know that's kind of a stretch...

[@mom0367]

@@D_YellowMadness What? 💀

[@ClownieFace]

It's a real shame about that story, especially with a story based horror game.

[@IgirlbossedTooCloseToTheSun]

@@D_YellowMadness ad an avid fan of shoj this could not be more incorrect lmao

[@minus4951]

I literally stop paying attention to this fandom for a year and when I come back to check the progress of dark revival, this is happened. God I love the internet

[@asthore8195]

LMFAO SAME the last time i thought about it was when my sister showed me the shadow bandit trailor and said 'hey dude isnt this by the same people that made that bendy game u love so muhc?'

[@cwoodswdcchannel8297]

Same

[@capncake8837]

Same, but I think even longer than a year. Maybe two years.

[@TruffleAntylamon]

Me too

[@littlegayboy45_]

Dude I'm in the same boat lmao

[@Dr.Thriller]

As a Bendy and Bandit fan it is truly heartbreaking. I wished they could have done better to clear up the controversies, but sadly they kept hiding things from us. Honestly they should go back to a small team like they did with BATIM if they couldn't handle a huge team. All I can say is we will have to wait and see with BATDR. Edit: Also mad respect to you for making this video. I wanted to know the full truth and everything that happened at KB and JDS ever since I've heard of the firings. Yes it did hurt to know a company that made a game that you were a fan of for years to later find out it had some shady controversies. It really impacted me, and made me questioned if they will ever change their behavior or will they have to shut everything down. It truly scares me, but thankfully I am not just a bendy fan, I am a fan of many different indie games and so I just stick with them for the time being.

[@enadlr2038]

Me too and I didn't know about this until now

[@sillyclownlady]

I totally agree

[@waridchowdhury387]

Ya same man even tho I’m not much of a bendy or bandit fan anymore it’s still sad to see people who made these games go down the path there going

[@cajunseasoning1846]

economies of scale has left the chat

[@mr.misfortune6236]

I honestly feel that man, it feels like it's practically impossible to like a good game without it turning into a huge dramatic thing

[@xkolyaa]

lmao i was the one who made the "i wish people would love me as much as the ex-employees of kindly beast loved the coffee machine" joke *and* also the one who called Mike Moods tweets passive aggressive at 56:30 so thanks for giving me a heart attack twice! x'D in all seriousness, this is a very good and in depth video and while I may be a few months late, I thank for making this and also being as unbiased as possible!

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Lol, that’s amazing! I’ll be honest, your tweets were some much-needed lightheartedness when sifting through a topic this dense and saddening. I’m so glad you liked the video! It wasn’t easy to make, but it’s been worth knowing that it’s helped people understand what’s happened.

[@xkolyaa]

@@ChrisPortalBits awww, I'm glad to have helped even if only indirectly!

[@X-SPONGED]

1:05:55 "Get It Done, Good Enough" honestly sounds like something Joey Drew would say to his overworked and underpaid employees. I can't believe Kindly Beast would go this low

[@jeremiahjamesorlando]

Bendy is literally becoming real. TheMeatly MADE Bendy, but Mike owns more of the company. People having to be fired. Lies. Threats. This is ALL too familiar....

[@shmegalodonschmuckington786]

Life imitates art

[@maymay5600]

@@shmegalodonschmuckington786 yup, it does

[@gregjayonnaise8314]

All we need is an ink machine and a crazy cult to worship it and we’re all set

[@gachasins699]

Can't wait until he invites the employees back and turn them into ink monsters.

[@Crygear]

you know what,if it actually happens its gonna be "visiting the The Beast Studio in 3am" where the recorder dies and another posts it for helpvto find the owner...bruh

[@nin5664]

Henry: creates bendy Joey: mine Meatly: creates bendy Mike: mine Do you guys notice something?

[@littledevilspongejadedring1012]

Can't wait until they make an ink machine and doom us all:)

[@somethingwithbungalows]

And holy shit- Mikey Mood really does rhyme with Joey Drew and that makes me laugh lol

[@jkdjjj]

Bruh henry is voiced by the meatly

[@shadymann9468]

Reality reflects art

[@AnamRafat]

So this is a roleplay right? Please tell me this is a roleplay

[@BR-ec2ph]

The entire section on if the management was poor and the firings were malicious is super well researched but it is answered and summed up entirely by Mood himself saying, "Anti-union here."

[@Alex_Barbosa]

Dead giveaway every time

[@p8090]

this made me remember when this game blew up, and I found it replicated perfectly on roblox.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Yeah, that got taken down for copyright infringement. That's not a joke Kindly Beast targeted Bendy Roblox servers. One of the fun facts I found out while researching the follow-up video. :)

[@thecringeeascreator977]

@@ChrisPortalBits Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to go after people on YT for talking about the situation too. It could explain why there were so few people talking about it on KZbin prior to your video.

[@muchotexto4248]

When the game so basic underaged devs on a 30% revenue tab can replicate it en masse

[@mimzidonl436]

Oh my god I thought that was a weird dream I had.

[@ARCHIVED9610]

OH MY GOD IT WASNT A SLEEP DEPRIVED HALLUCINATION

[@hugoc.m.7727]

i just can't believe batim predicted the future

[@ms.pirate]

So the cliffhanger was just the beginning, and were living in the rest of the game 😳

[@natashakatgaming6987]

That could be cool I guess. Since we are in the future here to the game's year right?

[@Adeerwithnotlogic]

Ikr! Btw- nice profile picture!

[@lycaptain]

@@ms.pirate oh my god

[@MLSpence3D]

damn, you put this into words really well. I myself have had issues with kindly beast directly. They used my render in the Employee Handbook without permission or credit and it got me pretty down about it. I'm glad to see you make a video like this covering everything and its felt like this has been going on for much longer than it really has, props to you man for this video.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Thanks! Yeah, I read Mike's response of "well it may be my company and brand but I don't control the books" from the AMA. That really sucks, and I'm sorry for not including it.

[@MLSpence3D]

Chris Portal no problem! I sent you a DM on Twitter with proof about what went down, but I’m glad you still got the point through, I’m definitely bookmarking this video

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@@MLSpence3D Thanks! And sorry, I haven't checked my DM requests today. I'm checking them now and I'll get back to you on there!

[@kreisraydra]

The creator really did lie to us.

[@funkle500]

What render was it?

[@notmariolevi2863]

Wait a minute. Mike Mood is a ruthless and aggressive businessman that will do whatever it takes to keep his company alive... Oh shit, Joey Drew's real.

[@EndingAbyss165]

The sad thing is... these games have probably some of the best aesthetics I've seen in any indie games. I never knew about Showdown Bandit, but that game looks good. These devs could have done so much more had they put time, love, and care into it. I really hope that some other company buys the rights to Showdown and does something more with it.

[@ClownieFace]

(Note, this is a compliment) Showdown Bandit looks like it smells like the Haunt I work at. It's set up in a warehouse, so all warehouses just smell nice and nostalgiac for me. Showdown Bandit has that same scent to it

[@EndingAbyss165]

@@ClownieFace ???

[@ms.pirate]

All these bad indie devs I've been hearing and seeing evidence of, is making scott look like a god at this point No i dont worship scott, and I have been away from FNAF for few years now, but i appreciate and respect scott as a person

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Totally with you there! Of all the people to achieve indie success: Scott has managed to both capitalize on FNaF and make sure to keep control over the IP, all while always making sure to keep an eye on how his fans feel. Scott, Mike Mood, and even YandereDev are all human beings. They’ve all made mistakes, it’s more about how they respond to them that matters.

[@TheBadlandsSandvich]

I would also like to believe Toby Fox has done a relatively good job as well. Granted he hasn’t done much since the breakout success of Undertale, but at the same time, he hasn’t done anything wrong either. He’s just kept quiet and continued to make music and is currently working on his next game.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@@TheBadlandsSandvich I'd say Toby Fox is a good example! He didn't feel the need to capitalize any more than some merch and a sequel that he's taking his time to make. He didn't make 12 lore books, he hasn't shut down fangames for just existing, and his game is a complete story that doesn't need a Game Theory video to explain it. Nobody made Kindly Beast expand their brand/company the way they did, it was something they chose to do.

[@sethmichel6138]

@@ChrisPortalBits plus the only thing that could be seen as a purely business decision, Sans Mii costume in Smash Ultimate, has 2 things that completely change that, 1) the fans of Undertale were begging for Sans in any form to appear in Smash and 2) Toby Fox just went up to Sakurai's house and challenged him to a round of Smash Ultimate, with his reward for beating the creator at his own game being Sans getting in Smash. Once you learn that Sans in Smash looks less like a business decision and more like a sign of Toby's passion for his game and fans

[@atanaZion]

Tbh, he isbkinda lazy He just buy music and textures and release it

[@JacF6734]

The minute I heard RoosterTeeth was involved, I cringed. Anything that company touches nowadays turns to shit.

[@eduardofeijolle8049]

They definetely need a better production strategy.

[@NoxAtlas]

That's called the shit midas effect

[@goober8860]

@@NoxAtlas kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmm0d2mrp76mi7c this family guy skit

[@benedictdwyer2608]

In their defense, it seems this shitfest wasn’t RoosterTeeth caused

[@cinderellaskeleton6720]

Yeah man, I remember I used to be a fan of the show camp camp. God, what a shit show. They made the character who was a parody of hitler have autism and he was the only neurodivergent character, what the fuck.

[@SunkistBlast]

The thing that probably pisses me off the most is that fact that themeatly will literally tweet more than 5 times a day about how "he's working really hard on bendy and how he knows this game will be so much better than the last" yet he's sitting on Twitter begging for a collab with fortnite. He doesn't ever show us anything for batdr "because he doesn't have the time" and whenever he does show something it's a model of a fucking toy duck. Then he's saying "this looks so much better then the last game" yet it looks exactly the same- Oh then he's telling us that he doesn't have the time to make a trailer for the game yet he and the team has the time to make a full ass detailed April fools day joke for yt. You can tell themeatly is so paranoid about what happened but is still doing the same shit as last time. (By ignoring the situation and in my opinion contributing to the problem) Like I'm sorry but I really sick of it and at this point am done supporting him and the company. That company really turned into the video game they made lmao

[@acebee46]

giving me yanderedev flashbacks

[@peixesFishy]

This sums everything on Twitter up PERFECTLY

[@mrlaz9011]

@@acebee46 Are you coding son?

[@huggywuggy847]

EXACTLY!

[@shadovvwolfie790]

I'll never purchase Bendy straws again.

[@asmr-tism2601]

Do not remind me of that bullshit.

[@ykobi]

whats that?????

[@Cheesemilkew]

is this a pun or am I missing something

[@shadovvwolfie790]

@@Cheesemilkew it's a pun. I'm not ashamed of it.

[@lycaptain]

lmao

[@bapple8693]

Kindly Beast: A game studio that became their own creation (Joey Drew Studios to clarify)

[@GoldenEmbersYT]

We become what we behold, we shape our tools, then our tools shape us..damn

[@lorenasousa8643]

@@GoldenEmbersYT yep..

[@Mike14264]

They sure are a beast. Not so sure about the kindly bit, tho.

[@thomasalvarenga2839]

The fact I only knew about this controversy 1 year after the video was originally posted shows how really “under the rug” this incident has been in gaming journalism.

[@thecringeeascreator977]

I never know about this until like April of 2021.

[@rainbird26]

Never heard anything about this whole situation until today, and now it's thanks to a youtube recommendation

[@danytwos]

i litteraly just found out

[@mitskinotmidski]

Just found out

[@AlexNeon97]

You would imagine this would have been big news, especially for allot of game journalists (I would think) But apparently not, I only JUST found out that this whole mess happened.

[@robloxking2578]

So, long story short, Kindly Beast pulled a Joey Drew, and they need time to find it in their hearts to truly apologize. I sure hope they do. I want Bendy and Showdown Bandit to return. Great explanation, Chris Portal! You've shown the mark of a *TRUE* creator! Just take your time to make good content. ; )

[@retrievergaming9715]

Hey I know this was made over a year ago and I just discovered it but I’m really glad you made this video. Honestly it’s been so long since anything bendy related has come out that I forgot the series existed. I had no idea that mike and everyone else did these kinds of things but I’m glad I know now. I like how you did your best to present the facts and things from everyone’s perspectives which must’ve been hard to do since former employees and the meatly weren’t talking about it. I just like how unbiased your analysis was even though you obviously are very disappointed in what happened it has helped me form my own opinion. I don’t think I’ll support the company anymore either

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Thanks for letting me know! The numbers on the video might look impressive but I appreciate a long, sincere comment more. :) I made this video so everyone could know what happened, since trying to find the answer for myself was incredibly challenging. While I'm glad to hear you won't be supporting the company anymore, I'm happier that you feel I presented the information in a way that let you form your own opinion, regardless of my own.

[@randomokay_5719]

I don’t mean to come off as rude or anything of the sort, but these issues and accusations have been occurring for years now. It’s only now resurfacing due to the new game announced. The creators and developers have been attempting to move past this and grow from their past mistakes. Nobody’s really allowing them to do so because they came making the same arguments over and over from the past. I understand what they’ve done has been messed up, but it’s on the brink of being petty now. It mainly started when people believed that they’ve stolen ideas and more from this one older game, which has yet to be proven and remains a conspiracy so far. Afterwards, people were bringing up the past once more. It’s getting rather irritating. But it just depends on your opinion, I guess.

[@shanon4768]

lmao just now realizing this video is 3 years old

[@SamiTheAnxiousBean]

The biggest victim of this entire situation was the Ariana Grande coffee machine

[@irkenpony17]

rip

[@lorenasousa8643]

R.I.P

[@whitewolf1414]

F

[@cryogeneric9139]

rest in coffee grounds 😔

[@kimberlybogert7031]

:(☕💔

[@IanSz-ig9hn]

It is interesting how this video appeared in my feed despite not watching Bendy content in months. If this video is being recommended that easily, AND if it grows in views to a bigger scale, then it might have a big impact in Joey Drew Studios

[@IanSz-ig9hn]

Oh, and, while I don't think they will apologize for the mistakes they haven't even recognized, I do hope they will take some of the criticism and polish their futures games. Not because they actually care about the quality itself, but because a lack of it could severely affect their sales

[@smirglepapier531]

I got it recommended without ever watching a Bendy video so there is that... I am staying for the facts tho

[@somebonehead]

@@smirglepapier531 Same, but I do watch these kinds of 'X controversy explained' video essays so I guess YT picked up on that, I'll watch them even if I am completely unfamiliar with the community in question

[@melaniey.5596]

Me too! I haven’t watched Bendy content in years. I wonder what it was? I my case what only comes to mind is lore and gameplay videos of other indie game.

[@booberfraggle]

Same! I was only barely in the Bendy fandom when it first came out (haven’t even thought about it in YEARS) but this popped up in my recommended anyway!

[@halla3184]

Somehow, weirdly, I'm not surprised. I never really got into the whole Bendy franchise, for some reason it just never held my attention, even though I'm a big fan of other indie franchises like FNaF and Undertale. Even when I first saw it, while the visual style is quite striking, it always felt a bit off. Like it was lacking something. It felt like it was playing too much on shock factor and intrigue, without having something of substance to show for it. Guess my gut had it right.

[@falendemo546]

Halla --- this game became a western version of Hello Neighbor basically, so it make sense for you to not be fan of it.

[@compassrose1466]

You’d think they’d learn after Telltale fell through. Like yikes this reminds me so much of that situation. It was handled so badly and on top of that lying to people their job was okay…and then telling them to get out.

[@Calpsotoma]

If you want to separate art from the artist, you have to make sure your actions in interacting with the art doesn't financially benefit the artist. In short, if you believe in separating art from artist, pirate the art.

[@marcar9marcar972]

That makes you no better than them. Art isn’t a reason to break the law and do something wrong.

[@shotgun6X]

@@marcar9marcar972 oh boo hoo. The abusive company didn't get my, what, fifty bucks? Whatever

[@maninthemask6275]

Cool so I guess you don’t buy stuff from China oh wait you do? Well aren’t we a hypocrite. Stop trying to impose some moral aspect into purchasing a product. Judgmental prick.

[@spacemeers1511]

@@maninthemask6275 You seem more pressed than a flattened penny pal.

[@rickmont1613]

@Space Meers Lore?

[@eggsbenedict333]

Finally! Someone has made a video on this topic. Ever since the original firings I've been hoping someone would make a comprehensive overview of what happened. As for this video I must say this is incredibly well researched and really goes in deep Kindly Beast's history. I'm also glad that you weren't afraid of holding back on the condemnation of their more disgusting actions.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Thanks! I did my best to lay everything out before insulting them, because I wanted to make it clear to everyone what KB had done before condemning them. I wanted this video to be respectful to Bendy fans, but at some point I wanted to put my foot down and say what they're doing is beyond just glossing over. I'm really happy you enjoyed the video!

[@FringeSpectre]

@@ChrisPortalBits the editing was a bit too fast for my Stoner brain but I'm sure I'm just a niche case. Other than that personal gripe i second the notion.

[@baitzadasuto]

Can't believe it took almost an hour and four words, "Mike is anti-union," for all this to click or me.

[@WD_RatLad]

For* not or

[@meetwheatpodcast9078]

Thanks

[@Alex_Barbosa]

Right? That was the obvious giveaway

[@therevenancy]

You're incredibly well-spoken without being snarky or backhanded. That can be hard to find, well done on the whole thing!

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Thank you! While I certainly have an opinion and came to my own conclusions about the situation: I wanted to present the information itself in as unbiased of a manor as I could.

[@turtlefox7287]

There trying to get into Joey Drew’s mindset so they can make the next bendy game as realistic as possible ☺️

[@Rat-nn6hy]

LMAOOOO

[@lycaptain]

NOO LMAOOOO

[@umbraeclipse8552]

Well this is horribly depressing- I was hoping to see Showdown Bandit finally pop up in the future, but it’s looking like a pipe dream now... As for everything else, I’m definitely disappointed and hoping that the folks fired can actually find much better jobs.

[@kgsoloman5000]

Many of them have left the industry permanently. This burned them out hard and they decided that it was the healthier choice to pursue similar roles in more stable/mature industries.

[@gracekelley2907]

@@kgsoloman5000 That's heartbreaking to hear. But I do hope they found other industries that they're just as passionate about and are even happier to work in. They deserve it after all they've been through.

[@silverscorpio24]

I was disappointed with how Bendy ended and was heartbroken when Showdown Bandit was canceled

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Honestly? Me too. After I heard there was a completely different version of Showdown Bandit that’s basically complete but never released: it means there technically more Showdown Bandit content that is finished but we’ll never get to see. :/

[@biancathepansy]

I'm disappointed that Kindly Beast is such a terrible company. I'm not in the BATIM fandom anymore, but I was for almost 3 years, I even have some merch. But now I'm just disappointed. :(

[@vaux1719]

"not making a polished product because they believed their fans won't care" this sentence alone aged remarkably well in the gaming industry

[@YeahIDontKn0wEither]

"not making a polished product because they believed their fans won't care" (laughs in Cyberpunk and Security Breach)

[@falendemo546]

I think that the whole "get it done, good enough" mentality will harm the company more than benefit. Basically they need to understand that they are not AAA developer, they can't just make broken games and get away with it. They are still a indie company (corporate, horrible one, but indie), even if they got away with it, I doubt anyone outside BATIM's core fanbase will buy or even care about these products they are making, because these things will probably be full of soulless content, glitches, softlocks, general boredom and uncreativity, to the point of they will not have enough money to keep the corp(se)ration active, making the road for unavoidable bancrupcy. However, not supporting them by not buying the Bendy's games or merch is actually the best we can't to prevent any more of these stuff to happended, because if we do, it will teach other companies to follow these steps, imagine if Yacht Club Games or Team Cherry would do this stuff, it would be horrible. Also the genre of horror they are making (the lore-based Slender-FNAF games) is declining, which totally is not going to help selling their products, they can't anymore got full "trend chase mode" since this train is slowly dying, yeah I know that Resident Evil 7 & 8 are technically these type of gaming products, but these games have some sort of quality and are..... actually good, polished products, so the devs really have no excuse to continue making this s h i t, just looks at CD Project Red after Cyberpunk 2077, because you dedicated fanbase doesn't mean that you will survive the horrible reception of you're c r a p p y b u l l s h i t.

[@Matt_History]

Literally have development has to be defined by 'good enough' because games being held until they're 'perfect' or 'ready' is impossible, because it almost always invites the worst in all artists and creators, which is the inability to limit. So you need to draw a line and point at it and tell them. That is done. You might not feel like it's done. But it is. Go back. Find something that's isn't at the line yet. But that requires team work and a present team lead to make sure the line is being respected

[@JacF6734]

I'd say that the trend of indie lore-based horror games is definitely dead. The mantle, I believe, has been taken up again by AAA developers with games like Resident Evil 8.

[@RelentlessSketchStudios]

Really living it up to Joey Drew's name.

[@cxrriecxnine]

they're re-enacting their hit game. I've been here since there was an actual fandom, its why i started drawing. it hurts to see this. I remember going to hot topic for the first time when they first dropped merch, I still wear it. I wish this didn't happen...

[@oliverspiler9101]

22:41 Firing 50 employees before the holiday season without notice 39:20 Workplace a..se 43:14 Nepotism 50:27 Firing someone during a global ...demic without notice 1:02:35 Stealing ideas from fans without credit or consent 1:04:58 Mismarketing 1:05:48 Not making a polished product coz they thought/believed their fans wont care

[@BriarPatchNyra]

Thank you!

[@Maukiki]

Oh dam thanx

[@mrex666productions7]

The firing was actually a bit before the pandemic.

[@kakyointhemilfhunter4273]

Why are you censoring words?

[@randomokay_5719]

I don’t mean to come off as rude or anything of the sort, but these issues and accusations have been occurring for years now. It’s only now resurfacing due to the new game announced. The creators and developers have been attempting to move past this and grow from their past mistakes. Nobody’s really allowing them to do so because they came making the same arguments over and over from the past. I understand what they’ve done has been messed up, but it’s on the brink of being petty now. It mainly started when people believed that they’ve stolen ideas and more from this one older game, which has yet to be proven and remains a conspiracy so far. Afterwards, people were bringing up the past once more. It’s getting rather irritating. But it just depends on your opinion, I guess.

[@sableskullmuncher9848]

Video subject aside, I'm a huge fan of these video essay style videos and stumbled across this randomly, the amount of effort put into this video is phenomenal from the editing to the clearness of your points and how you've formatted them you have done so in a very understandable and easy to break down way, I'm very impressed with your style and the time and effort that must have gone into making this, well done!

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Thank you so much! I’m used to writing much shorter videos on much less complicated issues, so this was certainly an experiment. I’m glad it turned out so well, and that you enjoy it! I’ll likely be making more long-form content like this in the future now that I know an hour-long video won’t scare people off lol.

[@chaoscontroller316]

The second I saw RoosterTeeth's name on this, I knew this story was gonna get murky.

[@randomcenturion7264]

Yup. As soon as you hear that name, shit is going to get nasty and frustrating.

[@lazymansload520]

I know a lot of people left that company, but what’s so shady about some halo fanfic writers?

[@KevinKess]

​@@lazymansload520 Well, here's just a sample of what's gotten them such a bad reputation over the years: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppObqnqNYt6Cn6s / kzbin.info/www/bejne/ppObqnqNYt6Cn6s&list=PLoMAYGc8L0Leqck34kdGxUHKW2iiH7t_4&index=4

[@lazymansload520]

@@KevinKess I forgot I commented here, Looks like the biggest thing people bring up is the whole Vic magnogna issue. Looking into, it seems he may have sexually harassed women, and lost the court fight to say he didn’t. I suppose if I were to harp on rooster teeth for firing him, I’d have to harp on literally everyone else. It reminds me of people pointing out how Walt Disney fired every suspected communist working for him in the fifties, people forget that so did literally all the other studios, making the matter larger than just the action of one studio.

[@donb7519]

@@lazymansload520 i mean you should get mad at other people for doing that also losing a court case like that really isnt hard in the us since its super hard to prove libel here

[@brianco28]

hearing that they just winged the entire story of batim really feels like a gut punch. look, it's fine if you don't take your game's lore that seriously. not _everything_ needs some dark complex edgy story. but when you market it as such and watch your fans spend hours theorizing about it, it's just insulting.

[@outspade]

i just watched 75 minutes of me losing respect for a company i didnt even know they changed name to kindly beast until now LMAO

[@ebkits10]

SAME!!! The last I heard was almost two years ago, which was a rumor that Bandit was gonna be garbage.

[@corn4618]

Same Lmfao i didnt even Knew It died off-

[@ThisIsElliot]

I didn't knew Ethier

[@redtoneredtone6592]

I didn't even know what bandit was a thing

[@benduzled]

as a hardcore bendy fan I never knew this happened. thank you so much for giving me this information and bless you.

[@kimberlybogert7031]

Same..and yeah..I feel very upset:(

[@stupialtdeadname9234]

The "Mike is anti union" line hit me harder than it should've being 56 mins in. I think it's the absolute best example of his views towards employer/employee relationships and his supposed "divine right."

[@christophernoneya4635]

TBH a lot of this feels like a small group of devs made a successful project then essentially "promoted themselves into incompetence". They're programmers, not managers. They should not have authority over 50 people as this is a responsibility they have not been properly trained or prepared for, or perhaps they arent even emotionally capable of the role (management is tough stuff, emotionally). They even tried shoveling off the responsibility by hiring outside companies to handle things like promotion and the such, and from the looks of it without due diligence or direction. They eventually threw up their hands, rewrote a lot of the code because its faster than interpreting and properly using prewritten code, used the assets the team made, then shoveled out a token game and then fired the workers because they shouldnt have hired employees in the first place. This series of poor decisions lead to a lot of people getting hurt for no reason. Is this speculation? 100%, but it seems reasonable given the scenario. Good programmer and director =/= good manager/producer/CEO and this just seems to fit the best with the timeline imo.

[@animatrix1490]

Yeah, if there's one thing I've learned about game dev it's that it's way harder than you'd think, and if there's one thing I've learned about big projects, it's that actual, GOOD management is an incredibly rare skill.

[@drunkonsuccess779]

I can see the Internet Historian inspiration with that music timing and with the rant of bugs lol

[@SeriousBusinessman.]

Yep.

[@Tamaki742]

@@SeriousBusinessman. Business is serious.

[@yoshifan33]

@@Tamaki742 Any poll's a goal.

[@playersmash5938]

Good thing I wasn’t the only one to notice

[@skipplayz7577]

What the music call during listing the glitch

[@RainMicro]

"Bendy 2 is coming out in 2020" me: wait what? it's 2021 and i've not heard of the sequal

[@christrontherobot4100]

was that an attempt at a joke?

[@RainMicro]

@@christrontherobot4100 no i was just saying that the fact that it was supposed to come out last year and that it still ain’t out is shocking

[@Funnyvid16]

Welcome to my world, I found out about it through this video.

[@christrontherobot4100]

@Turtuluna I could excuse it if they didn't keep us in the dark. They waited waaaaay too long to delay the game, they literally changed it from coming in December like 3 weeks before the year ended. They also never update us on the game, so many people have stopped caring, and I am very close to that point.

[@eunaoseibrother467]

I dont give a shit about this bendy game or whatever, but in this video de game is title by jornalists as "viral game" and i can assure you. This almost "viral" always dont end in a good way.

[@TheAnchorArmsChad]

Like the song said: 🎵 It's me you should be believing cause he's deceiving you with LIES

[@outspade]

kinda reminds me why i quit working here because i got fired

[@Clarkamadorian]

That was the song that made a big moment in the generation. Bygone era now.

[@BlitzStudiosIsinsideyourhome]

@@Clarkamadorian I think that honor would go to build our machine

[@Clarkamadorian]

@@BlitzStudiosIsinsideyourhome wait wasn’t that from the same song? Man... I haven’t heard the music in actual years. I don’t wanna hear it tho

[@vintagejk]

@@Clarkamadorian the lyrics are from “can’t be erased” lol

[@ImmaLittlePip]

I always wondered why hype for this game had died down when it was getting up there in both fame and infamy as FNAF, Doki Doki literature club and Undertale Now I know why

[@huggywuggy847]

agreed.. bendy was great.. thnx chris for telling me this I am not support bendy anymore..

[@tarruvi]

This is like night and day, when you compare it to No Man’s Sky. The latter started out rocky as hell, but improved beyond what many expected. While BATIM went downhill from what seemed to be a promising point. The moral of the story, I guess. Is to tie up any loose ends with your product, show your fans the dedication to said product, and work from there. And, that your ex-wife could one day dunk on you so subtly with so much as a Twitter follow.

[@danielshore1457]

Thing is with no man's sky I found from release it was an enjoyable game like its was good, the problem was that it was severely lacking in actual content it was literally just, discover planet explore a bit leave repeat. But now it's so full of content I'm finding every big update I restart so I can experience all the new stuff from scratch

[@guest0718]

"that your ex-wife could one day dunk on you" omg mike's wife is secretly sands undertable from family guy??? (this is a joke btw)

[@nicolebrown1874]

As someone who followed the game during 2017, and came back close to the final chapter release, this game really does disappoint me. I'll be honest, I used to love this game. I loved the fan content more, as it seemed to present alternate ideas to what happened in the game, and I absolutely loved the idea of being able to redeem Bendy in the end, or finally escaping the studio with the toons. It confused me to no end when chapter 5 came out. I waited the entire day, started watching a livestream of it, and was super confused and slightly angry at the end. Like me and others have said, if fan content is better than source material, that's a problem I actually despise the game, now. I'm currently working on a personal rewrite myself (because GOD I need that Bendy redemption ending), and I have no plans on supporting the company in the future (even if Dark Revival turns out to be decent, it'd be putting money in their pockets) Looking back on people's predictions about the game with comics and fics back in 2017, and seeing how the game finished, it makes me sad, because this game had SO MUCH potential, and it was all thrown out the window for a lazy story. Everytime I watch the video, it makes me sad, yes, but it informed and helped me make up my mind on supporting this company. Thank you for making this video

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Honestly, I'm so glad to hear that this video was helpful in explaining what happened and helping you make an informed choice about the company. It was exactly what I was hoping to achieve. :) As for rewriting Bendy: I actually did something similar as well; I re-wrote Chapter 5 in my script for my "The Story of Bendy" series, but since I never made it to covering Chapter 5 then I guess I may never get the chance to share it. Maybe someday. Still, I'm fascinated by what others believe would help fix the game's flaws, whether that be some tweaks or a rewrite from the ground-up. Might just be fun, and even a good kind of writing exercise. Speaking of, I also want to say that I'm working on a follow-up video to Story of Kindly Beast. The response to this video has actually opened a few doors for me and I've learned more about Mike as well as Kindly Beast as a whole. Sadly, it's not exactly a redemption arc, at least not yet. I just thought I'd mention it in case you'd be interested. Anyways, thanks again for watching, and for your kind words. Reading people's comments and opinions has been my favorite part of this video's success. :)

[@nicolebrown1874]

@@ChrisPortalBits You are very welcome! Also, I just wanna say, I used to watch your Fandroid animations back in 2017/2018, and it's cool to see how much your channel has grown since then!

[@yoshifan33]

I'm still mad about that red herring with the wheelchair - it makes so much more sense that Joey is Bendy, after a deal gone wrong to heal his twisted and mangled foot (presumably from an accident with machinery).

[@theargument7321]

WOW. I had no idea about any of this - I only ended up finding it because I grew frustrated with the complete radio silence on BATDR and started googling to find out if I was missing any announcements. My mind is blown, I really was in love with BATIM but now i'm at a cross-roads (because I take a companies reputation into account, hence the reason SONY and Microsoft will never see another dime from me.) It seems like KindlyBeast/Joey Drew Studios/MikeMood/Themeatly all have one serious issue: Communication. They didn't communicate with their staff, their lawyers, or their fans and saying, "it's just business" isn't helping me feel better about any of this.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Yeah, I totally understand. If you ask someone “did you do this bad thing?” and their response is “it’s none of your business” then it feels an AWFUL LOT like they did it and don’t want to say it because that’s definitely not a “no.” Also, I have huge respect for you considering who benefits from your purchase. I’m very much so the same way, but even I’ve had my moments where it’s a hard thing to do. Still, I’m glad this video has helped you understand what’s been going on. It’s a shame that it has to be though my video and not Kindly Beast/Joey Drew Studios directly. They were once really good at communicating, but I guess things have just changed. Either way: thanks again for watching and commenting. I always enjoy reading people’s thoughts on this situation!

[@farahabbas9002]

Bioshock: an effective and underrated masterpiece made by game developers who made the right decisions Batim: a defective and overrated disaster made by game developers who made the wrong decisions

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Oh, the BioShock parallels run DEEP in BatIM. I’m making a follow-up video and, despite Mike’s claims of “innovating through their story and characters” a LOT of their characters and stories have their roots in BioShock that are painfully easy to pinpoint and are poorly executed.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@RCTaliesin Confession time: I didn’t play BioShock till last year, and I only picked it up because of people comparing Bendy to it. BioShock is certainly the better game, but I just never thought a first-person shooter from 2007 would blow me away. I was dead wrong lol. I actually want to make a video on BioShock after my Kindly Beast follow-up, just because I’m sure there are people like me out there who just never bothered to pick it up and should know more about it.

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@RCTaliesin Thanks! I played the whole collection on Switch, and BioShock 2 is certainly the my favorite from a gameplay standpoint. I’d love to talk about all 3 games as their own video, but I don’t want to make too many promises lol. Definitely doing one on the original tho!

[@ChrisPortalBits]

@RCTaliesin Awesome! I take a LONG time to make videos, so be patient, but I hope I don’t let you down!

[@MrTax-mp4ju]

@@ChrisPortalBits Are you going to play any system shock?

[@the-NightStar]

You know... listening to this whole thing, at least halfway into the video and almost every aspect of this seems eerily familiar to the situation with Channel Awesome. Right down to the "We're sorry you felt that way" non-apology rhetoric, the "abused workers standing up for one another" aspect, and even right down to the most unlikable culprit of the situation being a two-faced CEO named Mike.

[@jamesmeow3039]

Owch

[@dbkwk9]

@@jamesmeow3039 yep

[@welcometowallys8158]

Mike being anti union says it all for me It’s like a neon sign saying “I don’t care about the people working for me”

[@pikachufrankie]

To be fair, an anti union sentiment doesn’t mean someone doesn’t care about their workers, as I know a fair amount of people who have been screwed over by their unions, NOT their jobs.

[@thealmightyjack]

unions are for people who are too shit at their job to stay employed and too worthless to bargain for their own worth. Unions only serve to protect terrible employees from being justifiably fired for their terrible performance while good employees go underpaid and the union bosses rake in millions.

[@welcometowallys8158]

The_Almighty_Jack please apply this to the Amazon situation where workers have to piss in bottles I’m curious, do they just need to work harder and they just don’t need a union?

[@jebalitabb8228]

@@welcometowallys8158 they signed up knowing they’re expendable. If you move boxes for a living, you can be replaced easily. Unions are almost never a good thing, the only people who think they are, are people who’ve never had to run their own business

[@liviwaslost]

@@jebalitabb8228 it's still not an excuse for them not giving their employees bathroom breaks. This is a basic human right.

[@ThePaulper]

TheMeatly has said before in a chapter 2 Q&A that he “knew the whole story from start to finish” I’m still taken aback on how I was lied to with a smile. This is Game Freak and EA levels of mismanagement and I’m severely dissapointed in the development studio I used to look up to.

[@starrypines590]

Oh no, he's lying too? Fuck

[@ThePaulper]

@Hudson Perl This was pointed out that they didn’t know beforehand earlier in the video, that they used the work of theorists to advance their plot.

[@Feartube912]

@@ThePaulper it does seem really suspicious how Alice became such a major character in such a short amount of time

[@ScoutTrooperMan]

i think mike said that the characters weren't thought out in his view while i'd guess meatly thought of everything since people say hes the real creator of the bendy thing so i presume the one whos the henry stein of the shebang would atleast know how the cartoon begins and ends, an' by that i mean the whole plot of a man entering a abandoned studio and then facing of a hell, while i presume they took some theories to advance the story

[@dcscruz2970]

@@Feartube912 Cause Alice is like the second most famous character in the fandom.

[@MetalMockingjay]

It always breaks my heart whenever a cool project gets cancelled or botched. I had never heard of Showdown Bandit before, but I was immediately intrigued by the footage shown here, and despair knowing it might never be finished. The ever-growing list of products that were gone too soon, or never even got started weighs heavy.

[@cakechan69]

dude, I'm so upset. I always wanted to meet The Meatly and Mike Mood. They made my all time favorite video game that helped me through a bunch of hard times. But, it turns out that they just became the characters they made. Why is every video game that I adore and love to pieces has to come from a guy or company that are just monsters?!

[@ant-onio4543]

I wonder how they are doing now, basically nothing has happened since this video, atleast from what I'm aware of

[@cakechan69]

@@ant-onio4543 yeah, I true do hope for the best for them

[@zexalcommander7036]

It’s almost as if it takes a dark person or a person to unleash their dark side to make a good dark game. There are probably plenty of exceptions to this (I hope) though. However, as long as Kindly Beast/Joey Drew Studios own up to their mistakes and apologize in the near future and nothing supernatural happens, I feel like the concerning connection between the events of Bendy and the events of the game company will sever

[@cakechan69]

@@zexalcommander7036 yeah, I hope so, too

[@cakechan69]

@@ExulInsani true

[@creatornat]

I have a variety of thoughts on all of this: 1) Thanks so, so much, Chris Portal, for this video. It's Dec. of 2020, and I was looking online today to see if any word of the Showdown Bandit sequel was coming out, when I found this. Since I had not followed any of the drama regarding the company/Mike/Etc, I was totally unaware of how bad it all was. 2) As an artist, my heart truly breaks for both the artist-fans who had their work used without permission, and particularly for the artists/designers/developers who worked on the games. Even though there can be sudden changes when running these types of businesses, it is clear to me, they were treated *abysmally* and unethically. I imagine some of them going to work, submitting hours of labor, and being belittled or insulted. They go back to their desks, giving each other knowing glances saying, 'Oh, he did it to you too?' That sinking feeling, as you browse online, seeing all the happy fans of a game you slaved over, and your work, work environment and boss is terrible-yet you can tell nobody about it. Maybe even dragging yourself into work, the head people in charge have been mysteriously MIA for weeks, and the miserable realization that you all have to completely *guess* on how to proceed with your work. I liked Bendy a lot, but found the idea of 'Showdown Bandit' an especially clever addition to the company's creations. I loved the idea of the 50's-era-kid's-show-puppets, and the design work as well. I was sincerely looking forward to seeing more-I truly was. But I can only imagine the shock and stress of being told, after months of work, that all of it would be thrown out, and all the blood, sweat and tears would be complete lost-never to be seen. All those files, data and design work-just think of how much more amazing it would have been, too! 3) And lastly, the firings. The indignity of having such a terrible workplace and boss, only to be potentially treated like crap, and *then* suddenly fired before the holidays! I think of the plans the poor team made for their spouses and families, and the mad scramble to find work at the worst possible time of year. Repeated insults to injury. I truly wish there was some greater way I could support or tip my hat to the team that was mistreated and fired. Because the essence of what we all have enjoyed has them somewhere in there. I salute them and I hope-hope-hope, that they have gotten *some* sort of compensation... I suspect things are actually a lot worse than we all know about-or at least that's my gut feeling. And one more thing-it pisses me off that such a cute puppet(Meatly) is associated with such shady suckers!

[@ChrisPortalBits]

Hey, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. I've been busy the last week and haven't had a chance to respond, but I wanted to say that I appreciate it. I also wanted to share with you that a few more things that have come to light since this video, which I hope to cover in a follow-up . Some of this includes art which Kindly Beast had directly profited from without consent or credit from the artists, and theMeatly's role and response to Mike's behavior. I can't share too much yet since the details aren't finalized, but I wanted to share what I can. Thanks again for sharing such a detailed response of your thoughts. I know they can be a pain to write but they tend to be some of my favorite comments because I like to hear other people's thoughts on topics I cover!

[@creatornat]

@@ChrisPortalBits Right back at ya, friend! I too, appreciate your reply! That said, I have subbed, so when they update-video drops, I'll be sure to check it out. You're doing the Lord's work. :)

[@maymay5600]

ironic that in the game we had some, joey taking his employees work as his own! idk what the fuck going on in his head at all man

[@randomguy2402]

Thank you, I really wanted to know more about this situation, it really gets me sad that most of the fanbase doesn’t even question allegations or the fact that they announced BATDR a long time ago and just refuse to give us information other than “we want it to be the best it can be” or “we delayed it because we weren’t happy with the standard we believe our company has”. Thank you for making this video and as of right now, I also don’t think I’m gonna be supporting this company.

[@randomguy2402]

@@nolongeruploading5064 yeah, it’s very disappointing, people just act like they’re the best company ever,

[@jadynmitchell740]

I remember I used to watch literally every play through of this game, I adored the concept and even got it for myself to play. It was EXTREMELY buggy (I thought it was just my PC at the time, and it totally might have been) and eventually grew out of it bc of the lack of content I was seeing. Still adore the whole concept of the game and wished things went differently :(

[@bumbabees]

I was a little excited about it too when I saw Seán playing the game. his excitement hyped me up. but it was unfortunately a total let down. its a bummer when stuff like this happens :/

[@wuttacoolusername417]

If only. 👎 :/

[@seriousnorbo3838]

They turned from ambitious indie game developers to a huge company, that started to break apart

[@StarrChild.]

I always wondered if the creators of Bendy realised that their game just got lucky. Now the first few episodes of Bendy were fine (in my opinion) but it was nothing show stopping or deserving of over praise. It was a simple indie style game with a neat art style and cool story. The reason for all the attention, hype and love was solely down to the lets play community. When the big names get hold of a game and show positivity towards it, that will create a massive flood of fans regardless if the game's actually worth it. If Jack or Mark or any of them had just decided to pass over the game, it might have done decently well but no where near the level it is at now. It seems, just through the evidence here, that the creators truly believed the success was down to their own talents which is a dangerous and slippery slope to fall into.

[@Spongi_124]

1:02:01 It doesn't help that TheMeatly lied about this in one of his videos on his channel, where he answers bendy questions. One of them is if he has the whole Story in mind, or if it is made up chapter by chapter. TheMeatly said he knew *exactly* what will happen and how. So yeah, just more shady lying. Fun fact: just called out pedro on his Tweet protecting Mike and he blocked me lmfao the fact he didn't answer or just respond and just blocked me, shows he knows what he's doing

[@tellyheadedman2584]

I'm pretty sure he did had the story planned out at one point, but then started to retcon the story and add in more characters for merchindising purposes.

[@Spongi_124]

Btw, Im betting he is taking all this time making a part 2

[@theoverlord3937]

It’s possible he did have the full story in mind when answering that question, but it changed/evolved during development.

[@dcscruz2970]

@@theoverlord3937 Yeah. As you make a story you might change aspects and more if he was the lead programmer.

[@AutomaticVoiceMessageSystem]

TheMeatly probably did have the story already fully planned out but since Mike has more control over the end product, he could have made Meatly change the story even though he didn't want to.

[@Alex_Barbosa]

Anti Union. Right there, that's the point when you know crap has gone wrong. Nobody who treats their employees well is anti Union.

[@appalachiabrauchfrau]

Depends on the sector, the rail unions SUCK. Do nothing for employees, and mandatory membership/fees.

[@Matt_History]

Dude modern unions are pieces of shit. The warehouse I work at tried to forcibly take 500 dollars from me that I needed for rent to pay the union. Fuck them they're just as money hungry at any boss

[@benjaminhartsock3281]

I mean...I worked manufacturing. The unions there are sharks that take 15% of what you make and try their utmost to make sure you never get a cent of it back. If there are good unions, I've never met them, because the ones I have met can fuck off and die.

[@duckluiz]

That anti union statement baffles me. Where I'm from unions fight for the basic, and the companies have to offer at least the basic. That doesn't mean that the companies can't offer more than that. In the company that I work, for example, we get all the basic benefits that the unions demand, and the company offer some additional benefits, like discussion groups, mental health support, education incentives, lgbtqia+ inclusion programs, and the list go on. The union never tried to limit any of this...