{"id":498871,"date":"2026-10-17T04:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T04:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498871\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T04:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T04:44:19","slug":"tech-founder-criticized-for-vibe-coding-game-about-shooting-zombies-in-san-franciscos-poorest-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498871\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech founder criticized for vibe coding game about shooting &#8216;zombies&#8217; in San Francisco&#8217;s poorest neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"A screenshot from &quot;Tenderloin Night Shift&quot; depicting a zombie named &quot;The Folded.&quot;.\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"876\" height=\"470\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/pc_gamer_708\/b2526be18b839fe22f010ba1f1f90b26.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Credit: Pierre-Louis Biojout<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Pierre-Louis Biojout, founder of Y Combinator-backed AI startup NanoCorp, took heat from San Francisco residents and city leaders this week after publishing a weekend vibe coding project: a web-based shooter set in SF&#8217;s Tenderloin district, which is known for homelessness and open drug use.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;San Francisco couldn&#8217;t fix the Tenderloin,&#8221; Biojout said in a now-deleted X post on October 13. &#8220;So I monetized it [as a] Call of Duty style zombie shooter on the real SF streets.&#8221; He noted that he&#8217;d already made $300 from in-game ads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The game, called Tenderloin Night Shift, had players shoot &#8220;zombies&#8221; that, according to reports from the <a data-ylk=\"slk:SF Chronicle;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/sf-leaders-slam-tenderloin-night-shift-22479052.php\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">SF Chronicle<\/a> and <a data-ylk=\"slk:KRON4 news;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kron4.com\/news\/technology-ai\/zombie-shooter-game-based-in-san-francisco-sparks-online-controversy\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">KRON4 news<\/a>, included a &#8220;folded&#8221; fentanyl addict and a Black security guard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Speaking to the Chronicle, Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the SF Coalition on Homelessness, said that Biojout was &#8220;monetizing the dehumanization and pretend killing for fun of mostly Black and Brown residents of the poorest neighborhood in San Francisco.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In a correspondence with the paper, Biojout said that he had not intended to &#8220;provoke or to depict shooting real people&#8221; and that the game also included tech workers as characters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Tenderloin Night Shift appears to have been removed from NanoCorp&#8217;s website. Although Biojout deleted his X post, the discourse that ensued remains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;You made a game about shooting people in active addiction,&#8221; <a data-ylk=\"slk:said;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/theCTO\/status\/2110070446112862689?s=20\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> another tech founder. &#8220;These are human beings, not zombies. show me the positive side of this &#8211; i&#8217;m probably blind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;Why are you talking about addiction? It&#8217;s a zombie shooter,&#8221; Biojout said in response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Some commenters, however, expressed approval for the message Biojout has disavowed. &#8220;They are currently NOT human beings,&#8221; said <a data-ylk=\"slk:one user;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Marleaux_\/status\/2110343253677744570?s=20\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">one user<\/a>, while another <a data-ylk=\"slk:said;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;link&quot;,&quot;yLinkElementType&quot;:&quot;article_link&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/shipscode\/status\/2110420114122436959?s=20\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">said<\/a> they&#8217;d &#8220;train in bro&#8217;s game&#8221; to prepare to visit San Francisco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit:&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-498871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}