Crediting Warhammer Launch Team 'Good Enough,' Claims Mythic

Following complaints that Mythic's upcoming Warhammer Online (PC) will not recognize the contributions of its former staff members, studio general manager Mark Jacobs has stated his belief that crediting the launch team is "good enough."

"If you're part of the team when we launch, you deserve to be in the credits. No question about it. That, in my estimation, is what the credits are for," he explained to MTV Multiplayer. "Everyone who is currently at Mythic who's worked on Warhammer is going to be in the credits. And that's good enough for me."

The issue came up earlier this week when an ex-Mythic employee told Shacknews they were not being credited for their three years of work on Warhammer Online.

They elaborated that uncredited work has been an "ongoing problem in this industry for many years," adding that that "the actual people who do the menial tasks and long hard hours deserve their credit."

Part of the problem is that there is no recognized industry-wide standard for accreditation or game developers union. The subject of crediting is often left up to the individual studios to set their own policies, even in major corporations such as Electronic Arts.

It's an issue the International Game Developers Association hopes to tackle through its past formation of a dedicated board committed to crediting standards. However, the IGDA does not require studios to abide by those rules.

Jacobs noted that "online games are ever-changing and [have] ever-changing credits," and that crediting anyone who ever worked on the game would require constant updates as more people join the team post-release.

"If we set that precedent right now, that anyone who worked on the game at any point in time is going to be in the credits, the credits will be 20 pages long within a couple of years. And nobody does that," he said.

"I don't want 20 pages!" Jacobs laughed. "I can't fit it in the manual."

"I think [all-inclusive credits do] a bit of a disservice as well to the people who are still part of the team, who are still working on the game," he added. "I'll worry more about the people who are with me right now, then those who decided that they didn't like the company or they wanted to take a better job somewhere else."

He also discussed the potential issue of recognizing how long a person worked on a project: "How come we don't have the five-star credit section for people who worked on it for three years? Then the four-star credit section and then the two-star credit...There are so many issues with it, and we want to keep it really simple."

And as for the anonymous ex-employee hoping to spark industry change, Jacobs issued a public challenge: "If you really think that we're doing something wrong, at least have the balls to stand up and go 'Hi, my name is so-and-so.'"