LogInStephen Totilo, founder of Game File, sparks discussion about this persistent problem in major gaming storefronts.
Stephen Totilo, the founder of Game File who specializes in video game coverage, has sparked a significant discussion and garnered attention for a systemic issue in the gaming industry. Through a Twitter post, he highlighted the recurring problem of developer credits being overlooked on major online gaming storefronts.
In his article titled “Some of the world's biggest gaming storefronts still don't credit who made the game,” he emphasizes a major issue: many prominent gaming platforms omit the names of the actual game developers while listing details like the release date, genre, and publisher.
Using Rise of the Ronin as an example, Totilo illustrates how online PlayStation store lists details like platform, release date, genre, supported languages, and publisher, but not the actual game developer, Team Ninja. Despite the product summary hinting at it being from the makers of Nioh and Ninja Gaiden, Team Ninja's name is conspicuously absent.
"Publishers are a key part of the industry and the financiers of many of the greatest games released every year. But they’re not the studios, who also play a key role in the greatest games of a given year by making them.
Nevertheless, for years, major online gaming storefronts have defaulted to identifying games with their platforms or publishers, often without providing any info about the people and teams who made them."
Image Credit: Rise of the Ronin on PS5
Though some storefronts like Steam offer a good example, listing both the development studio and the publisher, this issue extends to other platforms like Nintendo's eshop.
The reasons behind this inconsistency are unclear. When contacted by Game File, representatives of the digital storefronts declined to comment or did not reply.
The effect of these omissions on the visibility and recognition of development studios remains unclear, even though digital storefronts are vital gateways for consumers to discover games. Interestingly, as some comments under this post noted, when users tried to click on the developer's hyperlinks in some of their favorite games to explore other products, they found that they were instead directed to the publisher's page.
Image Credit: Team Ninja, Rise of the Ronin
The question of who would advocate for crediting game developers on major platforms remains unanswered. The Entertainment Software Association, the leading game industry trade group in the U.S., is composed mostly of game publishers or platform holders. The International Game Developers Association, which has a game credits task force, primarily concentrates on issues of individual game makers not receiving credits.
In the end, Totilo mentioned that even Amazon, one of the world's largest retailers, only lists the publisher-specific digital store when selling video games, contrasting with their practice of listing and linking creators for music, books, or movies.
What do you think about this situation? Let us know. You can read the original report from Totilo here and don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.