I do not mean to make this any argument, but that interview was made in 2021, 3 years after YIIK was first released and criticized for its exploitation of the case.

Here's a screenshot of a now deleted response from Ackkstudios when asked about Elisa Lam on Reddit.

I really am not here to say nobody can't enjoy YIIK, but I find Allanson's attempt to sweep the "Elisa Lam manic pixie dreamgirl oc" aspect of his game under the rug extremely cowardly. To say it's a surface reference is also just untrue. The famous footage that everybody distastefully over-analyzed back in the day is a straight reference to this scene.

Also. Sorry, we know what happened to Elisa Lam. She isn't a mysterious missing woman. She was a young woman who had a mental breakdown and killed herself, who just so happened to show up in some slightly unusual CCTV footage in an elevator before her death. To recreate that footage with added blood dripping from her eyes and claim her suffering was influential in the making of your game just to years later turn around and say "it was actually a very smart critique about the thing I definitely didn't do" does not show growth, it shows a desire to have outsmarted everyone from the start.

Alex is not a self-insert of Andrew. But Alex woulda loved YIIK.