The Callisto Protocol appears to be the latest video game that has failed to list several staffers in the end credits. According to reporting from GamesIndustry.biz, several former staffers for developer Striking Distance Studios found their names omitted from the credits. While five former team members spoke to the outlet, estimates place the total at about 20 people that were not listed. One former staffer expressed that these were not part-time contractors, but major employees that were deeply involved in the game’s production, and had been for a year or more.
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“I understand if a contractor does a small amount of work for a fewmonths and is left off, but we’re talking full-time employees with over ayear invested in the title, and had a hand in significant parts of theproduct,” one developer told GamesIndustry.biz. “That’s where the surprise has come fromfor a lot of us.”
Prior to launch, there were reports of crunch at Striking Distance Studios, and many of the staffers say that they put in long hours to complete work on The Callisto Protocol. Despite this, there is a sense that those who stayed until the end were rewarded with a place in the credits, and some that didn’t were punished. Unfortunately, that seems to be a trend at a lot of different studios. In 2021, several former staffers at MercurySteam were surprised to discover that they were left out of the credits for Metroid Dread. The reason for their omission seemed to be an internal requirement at MercurySteam that staffers must stay for 25% of the game’s development to qualify for their name in the credits.
There is not an industry standard for how long an employee must work on a video game to be included in a game’s credits. Cases such as these do help to shed a light on how unreasonable the practice is, but do little to help those impacted. As more developers share their stories about this practice, hopefully the industry as a whole can start to do better.
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