Why do Ubisoft, Nintendo and co. hide who makes their games?
What do the Super Mario RPG remake, Assassin’s Creed Jade and Another Code: Recollection have in common? The studios behind them are kept secret. I’ll explain why, and the consequences of doing this.
The games industry is a secretive one. While Hollywood studios like Lucasfilm are happy to share their roadmap for the next decade, game studios and publishers usually keep a low profile. This has improved somewhat in recent years. Yet simultaneously it’s obvious that Nintendo, for example, has been working on a new 3D Mario for years. However, nothing is officially known. Even the names of some developer studios are being kept under wraps now.
No such number
If you look at the trailer for Super Mario RPG, there’s no indication of who developed the remake. Square Enix and Nintendo are listed as publishers, but no studio. When asked by various outlets such as IGN, Square Enix and Nintendo gave no answer in advance as to who is developing the game. There’s no studio logo on starting the game. The name ArtePiazza only came to light when an attentive fan read through the small print in the terms and conditions of a pre-order page. Otherwise this information would’ve only been available in the end credits of the game. A time when most outlets have long since published their content about the game. Reviewers were prohibited by embargo from mentioning the studio behind Super Mario RPG in advance.
Source: Nintendo
Another Code: Recollection is another recent example of a Nintendo game where the studio responsible was unknown for ages. Again, we now know thanks to data miners who came across the name Arc System Works while searching through the demo. That was last December. The game was presented in September. Nintendo’s PR agency confirmed the studio when I asked them.
Source: Nintendo
Nintendo isn’t alone in this approach. Sega presented five remakes at the Game Awards ). Apart from a bold statement by CEO Shuji Utsumi that the original creators were involved, nothing is known about the developers. When asked by renowned journalist Stephen Totilo, the answer was: «nothing to announce at this time».
Ubisoft, who usually communicate openly who develops their games, are also keeping a low profile with Assassin’s Creed Jade. The upcoming mobile game takes the series to China. It’s already been played extensively. Apart from the fact that megacorporation Tencent, or Level Infinite, is publishing the game, no information about development is known. At a quarterly meeting for investors in July, the question also arose as to who was developing the game. Ubisoft CFO Frederick Duguet simply said they’d reveal the name of the studio at a later date. To date, this hasn’t ever happened.
Source: Ubisoft
Publishers pull the strings
Why this secrecy? Many suspect that publishers want more control. If a game only says Nintendo, Sega or Ubisoft on the packaging, you’ll also associate the games with these companies. What’s more, publishers can change studios at any time without players finding out or even caring. This approach isn’t new, but is currently experiencing a renaissance. In the days of Atari, when the industry was in its formative stages, there was a ban on listing the names of developers. This was done to prevent the competition from poaching talent. Warren Robinett famously responded to this with the first ever Easter Egg. In his game Adventure, he hid the message «Created by Warren Robinett» in a secret room.
Source: Atari
As Atari’s dominance slowly waned and more and more developers founded their own studios, games were also appropriately credited.
Today, fortunately, it’s rare that names of developers are deleted from the credits or incorrectly listed. But this studio secrecy is just as devastating. In addition to the aforementioned lack of influence, one consequence is that developers have no references to show when looking for a job. As long as it hasn’t been made public who’s developing Assassin’s Creed Jade, designers in question aren’t allowed to write anything about it on their CVs. This also applies to studios that can stand by their games but (have to) keep the announcement under wraps. Which, as we know, can take many years.
Such secrecy primarily harms studios, or more precisely, the people who create games. We can only hope that this trend won’t continue.
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Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
