Respawn's newly released Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is reportedly missing some names from its credits.
Per Yasmina González, a Spanish localizer in the game industry, Survivor's individual localizers aren't properly credited. González didn't work on the game, but wanted to bring light on the issue, and posted a screenshot showing only each region's translation companies were listed.
"40 min of credits in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, but still no sign (that I can see) of the translators?" she wrote. I am sure this is not your doing, Respawn, but the force is with you; ask the agencies to give you their names."
Nazih Fares, vice chair of a special interest group for the International Game Developers Association focused on game credits (and a member on the IGDA's board of directors), also chimed in. He called it "unacceptable" that "a massive company like EA is ok to list down all Loc companies in the new Star Wars, instead of the actual staff that worked hard on it, and need this boost for their career."
Proper game crediting has been a consistent issue in recent months with big games. A lack of proper crediting can affect how developers get work after their current project is ended, and the issue is exacerbated when it comes to localization. Some studios, like MercurySteam, use arbitrary metrics to determine who's worth crediting.
Late last year, Obsidian Entertainment's Pentiment ran into the issue of crediting localization, and was later fixed via patch. More generally, the developers behind The Callisto Protocol and God of War Ragnarok have also been spotlighted for purportedly not crediting all developers involved in the project.
Game Developer has reached out to Electronic Arts and Respawn, and will update when a response is given.
Update: This post incorrectly labeled Yasmina González as a localizer who worked on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. She later contacted Game Developer to clarify that she had no involvement with the game, and this has been updated to reflect that.
Sooo let me get this straight: 40 min of credits in #StarWarsJediSurvivor but still no sign (that I can see) of the translators? 🎮
— Yasmina Casado González #TranslatorsInTheCredits (@Narush15) April 28, 2023
I am sure this is not your doing, @Respawn, but the force is with you; ask the agencies to give you their names. #TranslatorsInTheCredits pic.twitter.com/uhA7ju8Qw5