Metroid Dread's production was mostly handled by Spanish development team MercurySteam, who previously worked on the 3DS remake of Samus Returns in 2017, as well as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. And staffers in a studio generally come and go during a development cycle, however, the story of crediting workers for their services have become a topic as of late.

According to Spanish-speaking website Vandal, several former employees noted that their names were missing from the end credits of Metroid Dread. 3D artist Roberto Mejias spoke October 12th on his LinkedIn page about the game's success, noticed this omission, yet spotting elements of his work still in the game.

"I would like to sincerely congratulate the Metroid Dread team for putting out such an outstanding game. I'm not surprised of the quality of the game though, since the amount of talent on that team was through the roof. I know this first hand because, despite not being included on the game's credits, I was part of that team for for eight months. While playing the game, I've recognized quite a few assets and environments I worked on... so my work is there. Then, I would like to ask MercurySteam: Why do I not appear on the game's credits? Is it some kind of mistake? I would really appreciate having some answer to this. Thank you in advance."

Tania Peñaranda Hernández, a 3D animator who worked on Metroid Dread for 11 months, also spoke on her LinkedIn page about her absence in the game's credits, stating "...it also saddens me to see that I am not reflected in the credits for this work that I did. It has been hard for me to see that they have considered that it should be like this when I keep seeing a lot of animations that I made in every gameplay."

MercurySteam has come under fire from fans for not crediting employees for their work. When asked by GameSpot about this, the studio confirmed that they do not credit all of their workers, providing a requirement for producers and engineers to meet a minimum requirement during their tenure. They issued a statement:

"We accredit all those who certify a minimum participation in a particular project--usually the vast majority of devs. We set the minimum at 25% of development time. We also credit those who, even though they have not been in the project for too long, have had significant creative and/or technical contributions. A game development is a complex, hard and exhausting endeavor. We understand any of us needs to contribute at a minimum to it, to be accredited in the final product. Thanks for your interest."

MercurySteam is not a particularly large studio, so while there is grounds for legitimacy in their policy, developers themselves work on negotiated fees per project and don't see the income and profit from the final product's unit sales. Credits generally serve as a prominent means of increasing their portfolio for other job opportunities, especially for artists. Metroid Dread has sold 86,798 physical copies in Japan and started out at #3 on the U.K. sales charts, making it the best selling entry in the franchise in its first month. Unfortunate this blemish puts a damper on the first new Metroid entry in 5 years.  

SOURCES: GameSpot, Vandal, LinkedIn