Sonic Lead Programmer Unhappy with Lack of Credit in Steam Ports

Danica Davidson October 20, 2020

Sega has been celebrating its 60th anniversary with Sonic the Hedgehog taiyaki, and now it’s announced that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Nights into Dreams can be played free on Steam. This has gotten many fans excited, but Sonic’s lead programmer, Yuji Naka, is not pleased with this.

Naka gave his thoughts on Twitter, and SoraNews24 supplied a translation.

ナイツまで無料になっているのですね。ソニック２に続いて無料とはセガはどうしたのでしょうか？
ソニックとナイツをもう少し大事にしても良いような気がしますが、もう古いからでしょうかねえ。
『ナイツ NiGHTS into dreams…』Steam版が無料配布中。https://t.co/AEUi4zS8mH @AUTOMATONJapan

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) October 15, 2020

“So now they’ve made Nights free too. First Sonic 2 and now this – just what is going on with Sega?

“I think it’d be OK for them to value Sonic and Nights a little more, but I guess it can’t be helped since they’re old games now.”

He continued with this tweet:

ナイツまで無料になっているのですね。ソニック２に続いて無料とはセガはどうしたのでしょうか？
ソニックとナイツをもう少し大事にしても良いような気がしますが、もう古いからでしょうかねえ。
『ナイツ NiGHTS into dreams…』Steam版が無料配布中。https://t.co/AEUi4zS8mH @AUTOMATONJapan

— Yuji Naka / 中　裕司 (@nakayuji) October 15, 2020

“As usual, when you look at the listed credits, there’s no mention of the people who actually made these games. This really strikes me as strange. I think things like this are why the game industry is no good. They probably display the original creators’ names after you beat the game, but there are so many people listed who didn’t have anything to do with actually making it.”

“The whole reason the port can be as is because of the people who made the original in the first place, so I think it’s odd to boastfully act as though it’s the porting team’s game. Shouldn’t the original games’ creators names be visible even without beating it? Or maybe they shouldn’t list the porting team’s name at all?”

Naka got responses from both people who agreed and people who disagreed. One person in agreement wrote, “I strongly agree with you. I saw they were free on Steam yesterday, but I didn’t download them. The credits were full of people who didn’t make them. Games are for gamers and creators.”

One person who disagreed wrote, “Giving away games for free doesn’t always mean the company doesn’t value them…It lets the maximum number of people play them, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s also a thank-you to fans who have been supporting the franchise for so long, and helps keep the love that particular game going.”

What do you think of Naka’s comments?

Source: SoraNews24

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.