Yakuza’s bundle release axes Nagoshi and others from credits

Dozens of developers who worked on the Yakuza franchise have been removed from the credits of a recent release of the games.

As spotted by Reddit user u/Timo653, in the credits for the Yakuza complete series on GOG, dozens of developers who worked across the games have been removed without warning from the credits of all seven games.

Notably, this includes Toshihiro Nagoshi, the series creator who left RGG to form  Nagoshi Studio.

Also removed was every developer from Lab42, the team that helped bring 0 and Kiwami 1 to PC, as well as QLOC, who worked on Kiwami 2 through Yakuza 6.

A user on Reddit claiming to be a Lab42 employee commented on the post, writing: “Well that’s not ideal. We put a LOT of blood, sweat and tears into those games, I tell you what!”

The Steam version of the games retains the original credits, at the time of writing.

The issue of properly crediting developers in video games is an ongoing one, with numerous companies criticised for not giving proper credits to creators.

With no real regulation beyond International Game Developers Association (IDGA) guidelines – which aren’t enforceable – game developers are effectively at the mercy of their employers as to how, where or if they’re credited.

IGDA guidelines advise that anybody who has worked on a game’s development for 30 days (or 5%) must be credited.

Katharine Neil, a veteran programmer who has worked on the Test Drive and Alone in the Dark series, told VGC in 2019 that the regulation of game credits is long overdue.

“Some gamers don’t realise how important this issue is for us professionally,” she told us. “Many seem to think it’s about bruised egos or something. No – like film and TV – it’s about getting hired for the next job and not looking like a liar on your CV.

“There are still no industry standards that developers can count on their employers adhering to. And I think the fact that many people still don’t even know that those IGDA crediting standards exist says something.

”And one thing I can say for sure is it’s something game developers do worry about – i.e. will I get punished in the credits by a vindictive boss, or will I be unfairly credited if I have to leave this project early.”