A former PlayStation narrative director, Kim MacAskill, has launched a petition urging the creators of the Until Dawn movie to properly credit the game's original writers. As highlighted by Eurogamer, MacAskill's initiative aims to encourage Sony to set a new standard in crediting game developers, especially in transmedia projects.
In her petition, MacAskill expressed her frustration over the lack of recognition for the game developers, stating, "I've just left Until Dawn where the film director, writers, etc, were all credited, but instead of [Sony] mentioning the leading game dev(s) who created this ICONIC game you're clearly proud of, [Sony] just wrapped it as 'based on the Sony game'. They spent years breaking their brains to make something incredible, and the world DESERVES to know their names... instead… No credit. No thanks. No honor."
Further elaborating on LinkedIn, MacAskill drew a comparison between the crediting of HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us, which acknowledges both Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann, and the approach taken with the Until Dawn movie. She recounted being informed by Sony executives that the intellectual property she personally created would not be credited to her due to her salaried status, which she found unfair compared to the treatment of other creators within the company.
MacAskill's petition calls for Sony to revise its approach to crediting in transmedia adaptations, suggesting that providing an executive producer credit or equivalent acknowledgment would be a fitting tribute to the creators. She emphasized the importance of recognizing creative contributions to inspire future generations of developers and to uphold the integrity of the gaming industry.
In other news, it was recently announced that Until Dawn Remastered might be included in the PlayStation Plus games for May 2025, potentially as a promotional move for the Until Dawn movie. The movie, which was released just before the weekend, received a lukewarm response, earning a 5/10 in IGN's Until Dawn movie review, which criticized it for failing to capture the essence of the original game's horror elements.