"Famous Last Words"

Where Credit is Due (August 2002)

Dear Jim,

I worked as a programmer on a PS2 console game until the project was deep into beta. Then I transitioned off the project, got an offer to become lead from another developer and left on what I thought were good terms.

When our project came out, I discovered I did not get credit for my work in either the game or documentation. My old company told me it was a mistake and sorry.

What can we do to make sure that we get the right credit for our work?

BUMMED

Dear BUMMED,

The credits issue is one of those dirty little secrets of the games industry.

As projects become more demanding and more heavily staffed, teams tend to add and subtract members along the way to meet the needs of the game's production.

In our industry, credit can be a political or a power issue between studio management and staff, and also between developer and publisher. When that happens, people don’t get credit for what they’ve done, and conversely, others may get credit for more than they deserve.

Team members and potential team members rely on their credits to help get work at salary levels that reflect their experience and abilities. This means credits are very much a dollar and cents/pounds and pence issue. Failure to receive correct credit, or any credit, can affect a career. Inflated credit, another side of the question, can hurt a team that brings in a person who can’t live up to expectations.

In the movie business, nearly all credits are controlled by talent contracts or guild agreements. Credit provisions are heavily negotiated in employment contracts entered into by lead role actors, directors, cinematographers, and other “above the line” talent; or are governed by craft union agreements for other technical, craft and talent professionals. Craft unions, or guilds, have arbitration programs that are used to resolve credit disputes.

In our business, there are few employment contracts, and no guilds or unions, yet.

There’s no clear answer to getting your credit issue resolved. The omission of your credit could be clerical or political, innocent or intentional. In the future, I’d recommend that the team and studio as a whole start a common credit file when work on a game commences, and continue to update the file during the project. Each team member should keep a copy of the file on his own system, as well as hard copy updates every time the file changes.

In doing so, each team member will have a hard copy paper trail that can serve to support a claim that credit was unfairly withheld or incorrect. If there is any disagreement over credits, the best time to raise it is during development, not after.

But with no contracts governing credit, and no recognized arbitration process in place, the issue of credit will remain contentious until the industry, or groups within the industry see it as a priority in need of attention...