The Callisto Protocol already has its hands full with mixed feedback after a somewhat bad launch and now a new controversy had just erupted.
The Callisto Protocol New Controversy with Credit Roll
Five former Striking Distance Studios developers have recently spoken with media outlet GamesIndustry.biz who got their names left out from the game’s credit roll. These guys revealed there are more of them that have the same situation, in fact, they estimate there are roughly 20 people involved. The said these individuals come from various departments of Striking Distance Studios.
“It definitely stings,” says one source to GamesIndustry.biz. “It sucks. I made a good amount of contribution and worked on it for [a length of time]. To just not be there at all is shitty.”
The sources clarified that the studio did not have any policy of leaving out the names of developers who have left the game development early or communicated to the employees. These guys think that what the studio did was not normal at all.
Seniors and Veterans Even Involved
Another source describes the studio as shocking as they even left off some senior devs, leads, and directors who contributed significantly to the development for over a year. Some of them are even people who have worked with CEO Glen Schofield at Sledgehammer Games, the previous studio. “These were really core people who built the studio up,” says one source.
Left to Extra Help and Miscellaneous
Even The Callisto Protocol credits were inconsistent according to these former employees. Some former employees were added in as “additional” help in their departments, some were even grouped in a “Miscellaneous” category at the very end of the credits roll that was almost 20 minutes long. The others were just omitted altogether.
“There was definitely some amount of playing favorites with the people who got credited,” one of the former employees speculates. “My impression is that they pretty much picked people they liked or had some sort of relationship with, and those would get credit and the others wouldn’t.”
Crunch Culture Was Fine?
Striking Distance Studios has crunch culture, but the developers were fine with that due to the nature of the product they were developing. “My issue is those of us who took part in that culture, who put in that time, and worked intensely to help craft this product, were punished with a credit omission for not going the extra mile… to stay until it shipped,” another source says.
Leave the Studio and Be Forgotten
Even leaving the company had some issue. No one would know of someone leaving the company since the leaders would not notify the rest of the staff. One of the sources notes that this was the only company that they have worked at where they would find a week to a month later that someone has already left the team. Wow, that is harsh.
Notifying the team would be a great help as it will give them the opportunity to reorganize the workflow to make it run smoothly again.
One would only wonder what other controversies will be unleashed in the coming days.