San Francisco artificial intelligence startup founder Pierre-Louis Biojout removed his browser-based video game, “Tenderloin Night Shift,” from the internet on Friday, October 16, following sharp condemnation from city officials, housing advocates, and local residents. The multiplayer first-person shooter drew widespread criticism across the Bay Area this week for turning a recognizable intersection in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood into a combat zone where players shot targets resembling unhoused residents and people struggling with drug addiction.

Biojout, who founded the AI business platform NanoCorp in 2023, pulled the game and its promotional materials offline on Friday afternoon. According to ABC7 San Francisco, the developer issued a public statement acknowledging that the project’s setting and marketing reflected “poor judgment,” while maintaining that he never intended to target people experiencing homelessness or substance abuse. Alongside the removal, Biojout announced he had refunded all advertisers and made a personal donation matching the game’s total revenue to Delancey Street, a local organization that provides residential rehabilitation and recovery services.

AI-Driven Development and Controversial Monetization

The controversy began on Tuesday, October 13, when Biojout posted a promotional trailer for the free browser game on the social media platform X. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the developer introduced the project by writing, “San Francisco couldn’t fix the Tenderloin. So I monetized it.” He described the project as a “Call of Duty-style zombie shooter on the real SF streets.”

Despite having no prior video game development experience, Biojout said he built the game over a single weekend using OpenAI’s Codex and internal tools from NanoCorp, which also hosted the title on its website. By Thursday, the promotional post on X had accumulated nearly 500,000 views, roughly 1.5 million likes, and more than 300 comments reflecting a polarized mix of enthusiasm and outrage.

To monetize the project, Biojout used NanoCorp to sell digital in-game billboard space starting at $100 per week, according to a follow-up report by the San Francisco Chronicle. While Biojout claimed in social media posts that the game generated over $300 in advertising sales—a figure also cited by SFist—news outlets have not independently verified the total number of ad buyers, player counts, or the exact dollar amount of his subsequent donation to Delancey Street.

Depictions of the Tenderloin Spark Outrage

Set at night around the intersection of Eddy and Jones streets, “Tenderloin Night Shift” featured distinct San Francisco visual markers. Players navigated past stalled Waymo autonomous vehicles with blinking hazard lights, Tesla Cybertrucks, electric scooters, a for-rent sign advertising a “Tendernob” studio, and billboards promoting real artificial intelligence companies, including NanoCorp.

The core of the backlash centered on the character models players were instructed to shoot and attack with grenades. In the game, players were prompted to “meet the locals,” according to NBC Bay Area. While some zombie targets wore food delivery backpacks or dressed as construction workers and security guards, one prominent enemy type was a grayish figure hunched nearly double at the waist while standing. Named “The Folded,” the character directly evoked the “fentanyl fold,” a physical posture commonly associated with users of synthetic opioids.

Before pulling the game offline, Biojout defended the design choices in emails to reporters while declining on-camera or phone interviews. He stated that he walks through the Tenderloin twice a day during his commute to his office and based the game on the atmosphere he observes. Biojout argued that the project was a fictional shooter inspired by a Call of Duty map set on Alcatraz Island, and insisted the targets represented a broad cross-section of San Franciscans, including tech workers, rather than a specific vulnerable demographic.

Local leaders and community advocates flatly rejected that distinction, arguing that the recognizable streetscape and character designs directly gamified violence against marginalized residents. Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, who represents the Tenderloin, called the game “deeply disturbing and unacceptable,” adding that turning violence against unhoused people into entertainment is dehumanizing. Speaking to NBC Bay Area, Mahmood noted that the game reflected a “pretentious and privileged point of view” that ran counter to concurrent efforts by the city and the entrepreneurial community to invest in the local Arts District and revitalize the Market Street corridor.

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie also condemned the project, calling it horrific and stating that the city rejects ideas that conflict with San Francisco values. A spokesperson for the City Attorney’s Office described the gameplay as “abhorrent,” while former homeless oversight board commissioner Christin Evans publicly urged Biojout on Thursday to take the game down and donate any proceeds to neighborhood service organizations.

Neighborhood Recovery vs. Digital Stereotypes

For Tenderloin residents and community groups, the game resurrected painful stereotypes just as the neighborhood has begun seeing measurable improvements. Comparisons to a “zombie land” had previously surfaced in 2024 regarding nighttime conditions at nearby U.N. Plaza, and critics including X owner Elon Musk have previously likened the city’s drug crisis to a “zombie apocalypse.”

However, both city officials and neighborhood representatives emphasized that street conditions have shifted over the past two years following targeted public safety enforcement against open-air drug markets. Jared Stearns of the Tenderloin Museum called the game “vile” and unrepresentative of the community, while local resident William Duffy expressed frustration to ABC7 San Francisco over a shooting game targeting the neighborhood at a time when local crime rates are low.

Rene Colorado, executive director of the Tenderloin Merchant and Property Owner’s Association, noted that while many individuals in the area still suffer from mental illness and addiction, the streets have become noticeably cleaner and safer.

What This Means for AI Development and Tech Ethics

The rapid rise and removal of “Tenderloin Night Shift” highlights a growing friction in the technology sector as generative AI coding tools lower the barrier to software creation. Using tools like OpenAI’s Codex, a single developer with no gaming background was able to build, host, and monetize a 3D browser game in 48 hours.

While rapid prototyping is a standard practice in Silicon Valley startup culture, applying the “build fast” mentality to real-world social crises carries immediate ethical and reputational consequences. For tech founders and independent developers, the incident demonstrates that framing vulnerable populations as digital targets—and using provocative monetization rhetoric to drive viral engagement on social media—will draw swift institutional pushback, advertiser retreats, and community condemnation regardless of a creator’s stated intent.

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