The film Until Dawn, which was published on April 25th, not only because of his mediocre reviews The film caused a stir not only because of its success, but also because of a scandalous error in the credits. As can be read in a LinkedIn post by Kim MacAskill, former Narrative Director of Sony Interactive Entertainment, the authors of the original video game, which served as the basis for the film, were simply not mentioned in the credits.
The unexplained absence of the game authors in the film's end credits
Up to this point, one might think it was a misunderstanding or a technical error – but MacAskill, who owns the intellectual property behind Until Dawn who helped develop it describes the situation as something far worse. "No license fees, no control, no ownership, no recognition", describes It reflects the lived reality of many creative minds in the industry, whose behind-the-scenes work is often overshadowed when it comes to celebrating a project's success. And in this case, the lack of recognition seems to hit particularly hard, since Until Dawn considered one of the most distinctive and influential games of the PlayStation 4 era.
The people responsible for the game – including Larry Fessenden and Graham Reznick, who wrote the screenplay, as well as directors Will Byles and Nik Bowen – were not mentioned at all in the film's credits. Instead, Sony chose to credit the game's creators only as "based on the Sony game“To call it that. A cheap excuse that doesn't pay due respect to the creative minds who created this game.”
Recognition of creatives in the gaming and film industries
The scandal is all the more serious when you consider the amount of work that went into developing the game. It was a game that pushed the mechanics of interactive storytelling and horror games to new heights, creating a truly unique experience. The writers and developers who worked on this masterpiece for years have now received neither recognition nor gratitude. Kim MacAskill questions how long creative minds should continue to do their work without any appreciation for a company that allows such abuses.
MacAskill even a petition has been startedThe petition demanding that game authors be credited in the end credits – and currently has 160 signatures – is a strong indication of the frustration simmering among the creative minds in this industry. Because in the world of film and media, it's not just the success that should be celebrated, but also the journey – and that means honoring the right people who contributed to creating the original.
It remains to be seen whether Sony and the film's producers will respond to this justified outcry. But one thing is certain: the incident has once again drawn attention to the problems that often lurk behind the scenes of the film and gaming industries – problems that urgently need to be addressed.
I found it much more interesting that Druckmann got a dig, which further strengthens my opinion that the guy has a huge ego problem and it wouldn't surprise me if that's why Days Gone was always held back.