Xseed removes Brittany Avery (Hatsuu) from the Cold Steel PS4 rereleases, cites "we never credit people who don't work here anymore"

[Nanashrew]

Reminds me of when Square used to do this for some people that worked on their games. Like, Chrono Trigger on PS1 scrubs Mitsuda's name from the credits because he had left the company and become a freelancer. His name is back in the credits in the DS version though, so that policy is likely very much dead.

These policies are stupid and harmful for those that work in games as they are proof they actually worked on the game. All it does is punish employees for leaving the company by having their proof scrubbed away.

 

[yyr]

They actually patched the game specifically to remove her name from the credits?

That's shitty. What else can be said?

People should be credited for their work. If they want to remove her name from the credits, they should remove her work from the game as well. And if that isn't possible, I guess they should also delist the game.

Guess I won't be buying any more XSEED games.

 

[Imitation Of Life]

It's not public, and frankly, it's none of our business.

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True. Might the real reason she isn't credited though.

 

[Deleted member 5535]

Certain publisher finds another way to disappoint.

Way to go.

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Xseed is more of a distributor/publisher for others in regional publishing (more to Marvelous which is their parent company) than by actual publishing tbh

 

[wrowa]

They actually patched the game specifically to remove her name from the credits?

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No, the PS4 remaster only released after she left XSEED.

 

[Lord Vatek]

Wow that is incredibly shitty.

 

[Arsene no Kiseki]

Fuck XSEED.

 

[Zen Hero]

That's completely awful.

People deserve to get credit for their work, period. It's not a question of money or law in my mind, it's just the right thing to do.

 

[VISION]

That's one way to convince me not to buy your game. Fuck that.

 

[Ladioss]

Dick move. Very disappointed with Xseed on this one.

 

[ThreepQuest64]

Bunch of wankers.

 

[PaperSparrow]

Companies hide behind their employees when criticized, but love to erase them when they want credit.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I know the details of why she left aren't public or whatever but when you literally pour your soul into a game and are a large part of the reason the localization had so much obvious love put it into it you shouldn't get erased from existence just because you aren't there or because of a falling out or whatever.

I hate when people's hard work goes unrecognized. One of the things in life that rubs me the most wrongly

 

[Stefarno]

I'm a huge fan of Xseed but that is awful.

It's not like crediting someone costs anything. Is it just to try and discourage people leaving? I can't really think of any other reason.

 

[Sun's Resting Place]

updated the op to give an idea of how much work she's put in at xseed.

 

[BlackLagoon]

Wait, what? Is this even legal?

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Why wouldn't be? The only group that's required to be credited are actors and the like with powerful unions backing them that can demand it written into the employment contract.

And I seem to recall this is hardly an exclusive practice of XSEED. Many other game developers leave former employees out of the credits, or just relegate them to "Special Thanks". There was a bit of discussion regarding this during the whole LA Noire/Team Bondi meltdown.

 

[MilkBeard]

Yeah that's not good, no matter how you spin it. People who put that much work on a project should be credited, no matter if they are still with a company or not.

 

[Crayolan]

Why would any company have a "burn all bridges" policy like that? Seems like a really dumb idea.

 

[TheMrPliskin]

That's some real bullshit, especially given how much she put into the series.

 

[MegaXZero]

Holy shit that is legitimately garbage. It's not like these are new games, these are ports of games she put her all into.

 

[Inugami]

True. Might the real reason she isn't credited though.

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If xseed said nothing, and there was a really really REALLY good reason then maybe... But they spoke, it's just their policy. And it's a shitty policy.

 

[Dice]

This is what a Special Thanks section is at least for. How dubious.

 

[Shy]

 

[Deleted member 401]

Capcom to remove Shinji Mikami's name from all credits.

 

[Deleted member 48897]

Who came up with this policy? Tom Lipschultz?

 

[Curler]

XSEED and crew sure isn't the same that it used to be :(

EDIT:

Who came up with this policy? Tom Lipschultz?

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What? He left too. He prob would've fought for getting her in the credits, too.

 

[Sun's Resting Place]

Who came up with this policy? Tom Lipschultz?

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Tom left the company at the same time as Hatsuu, actually.

 

[Deleted member 34873]

There is to Trails in English without her.

 

[Temperance]

Isn't this Rockstar's policy? Xseed AAA now...

 

[Damn Silly]

That's some grade A bullllllllllshit, XSEED.

 

[Theswweet]

Who came up with this policy? Tom Lipschultz?

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Tom is no longer at the company, and despite his faults I'm pretty sure he would've fought tooth and nail to keep her in the credits.

 

[Watchtower]

This policy is absolutely garbage. If a person puts in work to a project they should absolutely receive credit for said work.

Everyone leaves behind some kind of legacy, and it's extremely petty and dehumanizing to scrub that away.

 

[Shizuka]

XSEED and crew sure isn't the same that it used to be :(

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Honestly, it ended after Tom and Hatsuu left. This is extremely disappointing, XSEED stooping to new lows.

 

[Syril]

Xseed has some weird policies about giving credit between this and "if you request your credit removed from a game you'll never be credited on anything ever again".

 

[Deleted member 3058]

True. Might the real reason she isn't credited though.

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Nah, that's bullshit. They already told us the real reason she is not listed right in the tweet that's in the OP:

"We have never credited staff for their individual roles, or if they have left the company."

Their policy is to not credit ANY of their former staff.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Yup, still a pointless policy.

Does hammer home how few if any Falcom fans are left there...

 

[Kapryov]

Damn I'd always supported XSEED too, they seemed like the underdog trying to get high quality localisations out there when other bigger companies half-assed them.

But this? Fuck no.
You do the work, you get the credit. It's the way it should be for anything.
It shouldn't even be legal to not be credited.

Company policy my ass, fuck em.

 

[Deleted member 48897]

Tom is no longer at the company, and despite his faults I'm pretty sure he would've fought tooth and nail to keep her in the credits.

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Suffice it to say that my interactions with him back in HG101 have colored my views on his general politic; I'll take y'all's word for it on this matter then.

 

[yyr]

No, the PS4 remaster only released after she left XSEED.

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Ah. That's still crappy though, especially if they put "original version credits" or similar in there and removed her name.

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

It's far too common of a thing to discredit the people that have worked on a game because they didn't make it to the finish line like their work and presence was unnecessary and unwanted. I believe this also happens in the TV/Movie industry, as well.

 

[Deleted member 401]

For comparison, even though Microsoft removed Notch's name from Minecraft's loading screen tips, his name is still in the credits.

Obviously, it's not 1-to-1, but she worked on the game, she was credited in previous versions, and her work is still in the product that shipped.

 

[Gacha Santa Alter]

Yeah I'm gonna go ahead and say that's garbage, and them doubling down on it is just the smelly sock on top of the pile.

 

[Shy]

 

[stan423321]

Why wouldn't be? The only group that's required to be credited are actors and the like with powerful unions backing them that can demand it written into the employment contract.

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The heck? That's the one thing that is not limited in regards to programming copyrights under contract around here, and everything else (e.g. translations) seems to come with more privileges; I assumed it was a Berne Convention thing. Wouldn't the studios still force the pseudonym credits under the situation you describe?

 

[B.K.]

Did she actually work on the game or did they just reuse her localization of the Vita version? As long as there's no new content that she worked on, I don't see a problem. I assume she was credited in the Vita version.

 

[plagiarize]

It's far too common of a thing to discredit the people that have worked on a game because they didn't make it to the finish line like their work and presence was unnecessary and unwanted. I believe this also happens in the TV/Movie industry, as well.

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And that's bullshit. But taking people's name off a re-release is even more bullshit.

 

[Morrigan]

Rockstar has the same policy. I think it's super shitty.

 

[Shy]

Rockstar has the same policy. I think it's super shitty.

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Yeah. I'm friendly with someone that happened to.

It's fucking disgusting.

 

[plagiarize]

Did she actually work on the game or did they just reuse her localization of the Vita version? As long as there's no new content that she worked on, I don't see a problem. I assume she was credited in the Vita version.

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So if the original composer left, say, should they also not get credited?

 

[Sandstar]

Did she actually work on the game or did they just reuse her localization of the Vita version? As long as there's no new content that she worked on, I don't see a problem. I assume she was credited in the Vita version.

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Does it matter? She still worked on the localization, and she should still be credited for that work.