One of this week’s new games is a PlayStation 4 re-release of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II. Among the few changes made to the remaster, however, is be the removal of the original release’s lead translator from the credits.
Brittany Avery, who has been an employee of Trails series publisher XSEED since March 2012, worked on a number of the company’s projects. Among her credits with the company are the Trails of Cold Steel games; she was Trails of Cold Steel II’s lead translator. She left the company late in October 2018. Since then, XSEED has re-released the original Trails of Cold Steel on PS4, removing her name from the credits, despite the fact the she worked on the original release.
With the release of the second game on PS4, Avery assumed her name would once again be removed.
oh lol… the ps4 ending credits for cold steel 1 were updated so my name isn't in them…so i'm guessing it's the same for cold steel 2 as well.
— Brittany Avery @ GBF 300 Single Tix Spark: 43/300 (@Hatsuu) June 7, 2019
Shortly after Avery posted the tweet, XSEED posted an innocuous giveaway tweet, which was flooded with complaints and questions from fans about why Avery’s name was omitted from the PS4 re-releases.
With E3 right around the corner and 7 great games to be showcased at our booth, we're skipping our usual stream. Instead, we thought we'd try #FreeGameFriday. Follow & RT to enter for 1 of 3 copies of Trails of Cold Steel II "Relentless Edition." See news in the comments. 👇 pic.twitter.com/uRbxoBAV5X
— XSEED Games (@XSEEDGames) June 7, 2019
This caused the company to release a statement regarding the matter, outlining that removing the names of people who are no longer with the company from the credits of games is standard company policy. “We appreciate the hard work of everyone who contributes to our releases, but it is and always has been company policy that only current members of our staff are credited,” the company said. “We have never credited staff for their individual roles, or if they have left the company.” This indicates Avery’s name may indeed have been removed from the PS4 version of Trails of Cold Steel II.
We appreciate the hard work of everyone who contributes to our releases, but it is and always has been company policy that only current members of our staff are credited. We have never credited staff for their individual roles, or if they have left the company.
— XSEED Games (@XSEEDGames) June 7, 2019
Fans and industry professionals, including Vlambeer’s Rami Ismail, reacted to the statement negatively, saying the should examine their policy, or outright arguing against it.
I can't believe this is apparently necessary but here's an exhaustive guide for how to properly credit game creators and other staff in a product:
– If someone worked on the game, on the required studio infrastructure, or on the game's context or project's context, credit them.
— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) June 8, 2019
Credits should be about work done, not who works at a company at a given time. In some remasters, the original crew who worked on a game is credited separately from the people who worked specifcially on the new version, but they’re still credited. It’s important for the people who work on games to be able to say they did so in order to secure future, and not appearing in the credits makes it harder for them to do that. Beyond that, it’s also disrespectful for a company to say only the people who are at a company when a product launches matter.
Source: Game Informer
