Don’t you just hate it when you’re left out of a game’s credits after crunching for it for numerous weeks and months close to a Holiday season release? That seems like the case for last year’s not-quite-exciting horror action game The Callisto Protocol.

According to a Gamesindustry.biz report, 20 developers were omitted from the end credits of The Callisto Protocol, particularly those who did extensive work and contributed key development bits to the finished game. Many were surprised, as Striking Distance Studio never mentioned a policy of leaving developers off the credits if they left before the game shipped; one can assume it was punishment for taking a job elsewhere. In fact, the studio’s management made promises to address crunch culture in the same meetings where they praised the long hours people put into the title.

Here are some choice quotes from the report, obviously left anonymous.

“[The credits omission] felt like an obvious F-U to those who were left out. Somebody wanted to send a message, and the message was, ‘Next time have a bit more loyalty to us.”

“My issue is those of us who took part in that culture, who put in that time, and worked intensely to help craft this product, were punished with a credit omission for not going the extra mile…to stay until it shipped.”

There is no official word from Striking Distance Studios at this point in time. Meanwhile, here’s a past quote from studio head Glen A. Schofield while working on The Callisto Protocol.

Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about the people I work with. Earlier I tweeted how proud I was of the effort and hours the team was putting in. That was wrong. We value passion and creativity, not long hours. I’m sorry to the team for coming across like this.

— Glen A. Schofield (@GlenSchofield) September 3, 2022