Music in the gaming industry has been in a bit of a controversial state over the past week and a half. First, you had Mick Gordon’s report that called out id Software for their actions during DOOM Eternal’s development, which then had the developer respond rather vaguely. However, this time, we’re focusing on God of War Ragnarok.
One of Ragnarok’s composers, Jessica Mao, who was a former intern at Sony Santa Monica, went on Twitter and explained that the team did not add her to the credits at the end due to not reaching the “minimum criteria” required. The thread doesn’t elaborate on that, though, since Mao was unsure at the time of publication.
You can view that thread below.
better get this out before Twitter dies.
i'm so happy to see so many folks enjoying God of War Ragnarök! i worked on the editing/arrangement/implementation of the Freya chase scene and Thor boss fight music. you can hear to a bit of each scene's music in this video!
(short 🧵) pic.twitter.com/I2wCbX3UYx
— jessica mao 🍂✨ (@jmaomusic) November 18, 2022
Jessica’s contributions to the game’s overall score include Freya’s chase theme towards the beginning of the game and Thor’s boss theme. However, Sony Santa Monica said Jessica’s name will not be in the credits and can’t be added in a future patch. To quote the thread, that reason is, “...to be credited, my contribution to the game must hit some ‘minimum criteria,’ hence my tweet from Monday.”
The fact that a single name can’t be added to the end credits is strange, but it’s the reason that was given. Ultimately, it’s quite sad that people can work in this industry and then be seen as thankless in the bigger picture because everyone should be recognized for their work properly. Wrapping the thread up, Jessica wishes that other developers take the time to credit everyone on a game’s development team, as it makes sense to do so.
This story is currently developing, and we’ll update accordingly if Sony or another party provides a comment on the matter. We might see a few more details in the "minimum criteria" or perhaps some counterclaim by the developers at SSM, so stay tuned for details. God of War Ragnarok is currently out now on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
