Ralif Redhammer
Legend
I dunno, just look at what's going on with Blizzard-Activision. Shares are down, what, almost 30% this year as a result of the ongoing mess? While they made some limited inclusion efforts, certainly WoW was still burdened by years of problematic tropes and elements.
With Paizo, the backlash is against the company, not their inclusion efforts. I don't think many people that value inclusion are saying "oh, they shouldn't have had an inclusive game if they weren't an inclusive company" - it's "they should have had an inclusive game and an inclusive company." Sure, it makes them look worse, but the behind-the-scenes garbage was always going to be a bad look for them.
With Paizo, the backlash is against the company, not their inclusion efforts. I don't think many people that value inclusion are saying "oh, they shouldn't have had an inclusive game if they weren't an inclusive company" - it's "they should have had an inclusive game and an inclusive company." Sure, it makes them look worse, but the behind-the-scenes garbage was always going to be a bad look for them.
Not sure.
Could also result in a bigger backlash. If Paizo were your garden-variety reactionary stuck-in-the-sixties company, nobody would bat an eye on reports they, say, mistreated women, or people of color. More importantly, that company would not risk losing any customers, because any modern-thinking human would already be not purchasing their stuff.
Paizo, on the other hand, likely has a significant amount of customers attracted to their forward-thinking signaling. Realizing that was merely marketing might make them reconsider their product loyalty.