MercurySteam responded to complaints and comments from these people, but failed to fully convince.
Metroid Dread was a major release for the Nintendo Switch, breaking all-time sales records for the series, and even driving sales from past installments on other platforms. Nevertheless, MercurySteam, the studio in charge of its development, pushed aside several former employees and omitted their names in the credits of the game, something that did not go unnoticed by them.
It saddens me to see that I am not getting credit for the work I did.Tania Peñaranda, 3D animatorSeveral of these former employees raised their voices, some in the form of a complaint, and others simply by launching the comment. “I would like to sincerely congratulate the Metroid Dread team for putting out such an exceptional game,” he said. Roberto Mejias, 3D artist, in his LinkedIn profile. “I know it first hand because, despite not appearing in the game’s credits, I was part of that team for about eight months.”
Mejías added that his work is present in the title, and he was not credited for it. Another testimony, this time from the 3D cheerleader Tania peñaranda, reads the following: It saddens me to see that I am not in the credits for the work I did. It has been hard for me to see that they have considered that it should be this way when I have seen in every game a lot of animations that I did. “
Similar examples kept popping up, some even from people who preferred to remain anonymous. And what did MercurySteam reply? According to a company policy, according to account a representative in contact with Vandal, the person had to work on the project for a 25% of development total game, something that several former employees, also in contact with Vandal, assure is “invented.”
Exceptions are sometimes made when making exceptional contributions.MercurySteamThe MercurySteam representative added: “Of course, exceptions are sometimes made when making exceptional contributions“However, neither the work of Mejías or that of Peñaranda were considered exceptional by the study, since if they had been, their names would have appeared in the credits.
Mejías concluded his testimony, encouraging more people to give their version. According to him, several years of complaints about how MercurySteam treats its workers, but no one does anything about it.
More about: Metroid Dread, MercurySteam and Nintendo.