Crediting has long been a thorny issue in the video game industry, and MercurySteam is the latest studio to not list every developer who worked on the game in the credits based on its internal crediting policy.
As seen on ResetEra, Spanish gaming website Vandal published an article detailing how Madrid-based MercurySteam did not list employees who worked on the game for less than 25% of the game’s total development time. The article claims the game was in development for four years, meaning employees who worked on the game for less than a year were not credited.
Vandal’s article lists three developers who were not credited in the game, including 3D artist Roberto Meijias, animator Tania Penaranda, and a third, anonymous employee. Mejias took to Linkedin to congratulate the team and ask MercurySteam directly why he’s not in the credits despite the game using assets and environments Mejias worked on.
IGN has reached out to Nintendo and MercurySteam for comment, but in a statement to GameSpot, the developer said, “We accredit all those who certify a minimum participation in a particular project — usually the vast majority of devs. We set the minimum at 25% of development time.”
MercurySteam says there are exceptions for employees who make “significant creative and/or technical contributions.”
Crediting in the video game industry is sometimes subject to byzantine rules set by each individual company. There is no universal standard on who gets a credit for working on a video game, something that developers have criticized in the past.
This is MercurySteam’s second time partnering with Nintendo on the Metroid series, previously working on 2017’s Metroid: Samus Returns on 3DS. The studio has also worked on several Castlevania games for Konami.
For more on Metroid Dread, check out the reward for sequence breakers that gives players a secret way to kill a boss. Or, check out our Metroid Dread review.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.