Former Anheuser-Busch executive Anson Frericks weighs in on why companies like Target and Bud Light are alienating their customers in the name of diversity, equity and inclusion on'Jesse Watters Primetime.' Mark Kern, a former team lead of the popular online game "World of Warcraft," claims the video game industry and entertainment at large cater to progressive views in their content in exchange for access to money. Fans of beloved franchises like Indiana Jones have become frustrated when they think movie studios and writers have adopted divisive identity politics or gone "woke." Kern puts the blame on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) consulting companies that often work with a movie, series, or video game in development and help write or influence their stories. While some games with DEI consultancy influence such as "Marvel's Spider-Man 2" and "God of War: Ragnarok" have met commercial success despite pandering to liberal identity politics, the recently released "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League" has been widely panned for both its gameplay and its story. This game was so poorly received that Discovery Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels on February 23rd amidst the company's Q4 2023 earning calls declared, it "has fallen short of our expectations since its release earlier in the quarter, setting our games business up for a tough year-over-year comp in Q1."

Ten years ago, a game developer's aggrieved ex-boyfriend published a vindictive screed accusing her of trading sex for favourable reviews of her indie game. This was leapt upon by the least savoury corner of the 2014 internet, 4chan, and kicked off a harassment campaign that broadened to include all women working in video game development or the gaming press, as well as the industry's LGBTQ community. Sensing blood in the water, "alt-right" agitators on YouTube and Steve Bannon's Breitbart jumped on the bandwagon, and soon began to steer it – and Gamergate, as this manufactured outrage became known, mutated into one of the first fronts of the modern culture wars, driven by social media, misogyny and the weaponised disaffection of young men. Many of its tactics became part of the Trump election playbook. This week, a 16-person narrative design studio has found itself at the centre of a conspiracy theory that holds it responsible for the insidious prevalence of "wokery" in modern video games.