Nice Game! No Credit For You, Though

In an interview with GameDaily earlier this week, IGDA's Jason Della Rocca expressed his extreme frustration over Rockstar's handling of the credits on Manhunt 2. You may recall that the core group that initially made the game at Rockstar Vienna were completely left off of the final credits . One of the producers has taken the step of speaking out about the poor treatment he received from the company. Producer Jurie Horneman initially expressed his displeasure on his blog, but followed that up with comments made to the site Next Generation. "I get the impression that Rockstar New York tried to close the Vienna branch as quickly and quietly as possible. The offices were closed down during E3 2006, making it likely that the news would be buried ... As I recall there was never an official press release stating we were closed - it even took some time before it was officially acknowledged we'd been closed down."

Re:This is preculiar...

[Applekid]

True, but that doesn't make it any more classy a move.

There's been a real shift away from giving credit where credit is due because things are bought and paid for. TV for a while now has been fast-forwarding and shrinking-towards-illegible credits since they just can't be bothered with it and are using the space instead to promote something else. Movies haven't had credits in the beginning of the movie for maybe 40 years and instead lump them at the end where nobody sticks around for it in the theaters.

It's really unfortunate that our ownership and consumer society commoditizes EVERYTHING to the point where an individual's pride and accomplishment is just trivia instead of a display of credit.

Re:This is preculiar...

[badasscat]

Just give me the full ending for the game already. If something impressed me enough, (which would usually be the music), I'll go and look for the composer myself, which is always a simple google/imdb search away.

I guess you're missing the obvious fault in this logic.

If the composer is not officially credited, he's not going to appear in either IMDB or Google.

It's not about displaying names. It's about assigning credit.

Re:This is preculiar...

[Surt]

You are not the audience for those credits. It's for the industry. When I hire, I care to know what games you've been credited on. Think of it as a resume issue.

Re:This is preculiar...

[LingNoi]

Movies haven't had credits in the beginning of the movie for maybe 40 years and instead lump them at the end where nobody sticks around for it in the theaters.

GOOD! There's nothing more mind numbing then having to sit through the first 5 minutes of a movie watching either some boring walking sequence, car driving sequence or whatever the hell it is just so they can show some random names.

Give me star wars style of "BAM ACTION!" any day over that credit crap.

It's really unfortunate that our ownership and consumer society commoditizes EVERYTHING to the point where an individual's pride and accomplishment is just trivia instead of a display of credit.

I disagree, I think it's just another blunder by the worse cut throat industry on the planet.

Now taking people's names out of the credits is a no no. To me that feels borderline illegal. In a movie everyone gets a damn credit, even the coffee maker guy and the cleaner. I don't see why the games industry can't follow, especially when it costs them nothing to do it whereas in a movie more credits == more movie time.

Shame on the games industry but then this is what they're like. They don't give a shit. They'd soon as fire you and replace you with someone less experienced just to save a buck. That's the industry right now. Unprofessional, greedy and heartless.

Read any first hand experience of an experienced game developer and you'll see the horror stories pour out. I still remember one an ex-developer told me first hand. Their manager/producer (?) would throw an employees case out the window and scream "GTFO! You're done". Apparently a big muscled ex-military guy.

Welcome to the games industry!