MercurySteam has responded to Metroid Dread developers’ complaints of being left out of the game’s credits. It doesn’t look good.
Metroid Dread was released last week for the Nintendo Switch. Samus’ latest adventure has been met with a lot of high critical acclaim, and rightly so. The developers at MercurySteam deserve all the credit for making a fantastic game.
Unfortunately, not all of the developers have received the credit that they deserve. As reported by Eurogamer (via Vandal), some individual developers have been left out of the Metroid Dread credits.
“I was part of that team for eight months.”
“I would like to sincerely congratulate the Metroid Dread team for putting out such an outstanding game,” wrote 3D artist Roberto Mejías on LinkedIn. “I’m not surprised by the quality of the game though, since the amount of talent on that team was through the roof. I know this first-hand because, despite not being included on the game’s credits, I was part of that team for eight months.”
3D cinematic animator Tania Peñaranda also wrote something similar on LinkedIn expressing concerns. “I am very happy and proud to finally be able to see my work on the project, a job that I did with great love and enthusiasm! I am also very proud of the whole team!”
“Not accrediting the work of the team that puts all the love in the project, and the effort is a very ugly practice.”
“But it also saddens me to see that I am not reflected in the credits for this work that I did,” continued Peñaranda. “It has been hard for me to see that they have considered that it should be like this when I keep seeing a lot of animations that I made in every gameplay. Even so, I will continue to feel very proud of my work and very happy to see how people enjoy the game and the creatures that I had the pleasure of giving life to.”
Another former employee told Vandal that despite working on Metroid Dread for 11 months with MercurySteam, they received no credit. “Not accrediting the work of the team that puts all the love in the project, and the effort is a very ugly practice.”
The comments from the individual developers do not look good for MercurySteam. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if you have worked on the game for a day or a year, credit is warranted.
MercurySteam has responded to Vandal and I can see its logic, but I don’t necessarily agree with it. A spokesperson said they only give credit to those that stayed for 25% or more of a project’s development. However, it was added that “sometimes exceptions are made when making exceptional contributions.”
What are your thoughts on this subject? Do you think that individual developers should always get credit? Let us know your thoughts across our social media channels. Metroid Dread is available now for Nintendo Switch.
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Featured Image Credit: Nintendo/MercurySteam