Roughly 20 employees that worked on The Callisto Protocol were cut from the game's credits. In speaking with GamesIndustry.biz, five former Striking Distance Studios developers specifically say that they were omitted from the game's credits. They say that they know of several others who were also cut. Additional sources told GI.biz that about 20 people across several different departments were left out of the credits.
Those who weren't included in the credits include senior developers, department leads, and directors. Some of those left out are described as "really core people who built the studio up." Sources say that several of those omitted from the credits made significant contributions to the game and include people who worked at Striking Distance Studios for over a year. Some of those omitted even worked with Striking Distance Studios CEO Glen Schofield at his previous studio, Sledgehammer Games.
It seems as though that the developers that did not appear in the credits left the company before the game was released. Not giving credit to developers that worked on a project but left prior to shipping isn't exactly uncommon. However, it's generally frowned upon by the gaming industry. In addition, the International Game Developers Association crediting standards say that any member that worked for the company for a minimum of 30 days, including contractors, should be included in the credits regardless if they left before launch.
One describes them as "egregious," leaving off some senior developers, leads, and directors who made significant contributions, including people who had worked at Striking Distance for over a year, or had history working with Striking Distance CEO Glen Schofield at his previous studio, Sledgehammer Games. Another described some of those left off the credits as "really core people who built the studio up."
"I understand if a contractor does a small amount of work for a few months and is left off, but we're talking full-time employees with over a year invested in the title, and had a hand in significant parts of the product," one developer says. "That's where the surprise has come from for a lot of us."​
"I understand if a contractor does a small amount of work for a few months and is left off, but we're talking full-time employees with over a year invested in the title, and had a hand in significant parts of the product," one developer says. "That's where the surprise has come from for a lot of us."​
"There was definitely some amount of playing favorites with the people who got credited," one source tells us. "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."
"It's a pretty intense culture of delivering and putting in those crunch hours, which is fine," one developer says of working at Striking Distance. "Game dev can be intense, especially delivering a product of this magnitude, you don't always strike the best work-life balance. 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."
GI.biz says that most of the people they spoke with say that they crunched on the game "as management pushed to go beyond AAA and make what they called a 'Quad A' game." Development during the pandemic was made even more difficult because of rapid hiring that saw the team size double in just three months. This led to "near-constant meetings to ensure everyone was on the same page."
"Designers I know were working 10 hours a day just in meetings," one source says. "Then they had to crunch just to basically do the work they had to do."
Striking Distance management presented itself as having a "people first" mentality, but even when management would acknowledge the crunch and promise to address it, it might come in the same meeting where they praised people for putting in long hours.
"There was always this misalignment, where on the surface they say one thing, and then almost always moments later say something to contradict that," one developer says.
Another agrees, saying management was quick to pay lip service to self-care, but less so to make accommodations for it.​
Striking Distance management presented itself as having a "people first" mentality, but even when management would acknowledge the crunch and promise to address it, it might come in the same meeting where they praised people for putting in long hours.
"There was always this misalignment, where on the surface they say one thing, and then almost always moments later say something to contradict that," one developer says.
Another agrees, saying management was quick to pay lip service to self-care, but less so to make accommodations for it.​
"Whenever anyone would leave the studio, there would be no recognition of that person leaving," one says. "It's the only company I've ever worked at where you'd find out a week to a month later that someone on the team had left."
Another says the farewell emails standard at other studios were curiously absent.
"You never saw those emails," the developer says. "There were no emails like that. People were just leaving. 'Oh, what happened with so-and-so?' 'He's gone.'"​
Another says the farewell emails standard at other studios were curiously absent.
"You never saw those emails," the developer says. "There were no emails like that. People were just leaving. 'Oh, what happened with so-and-so?' 'He's gone.'"​
