Ending credits in games nowadays

There is one thing that has started increasingly to annoy me more and more in modern video games.

Ending credits.

I mean I dont mean to disrespect the people creating these games but...

I just completed Hell Yeah! Wrath Of The Dead Rabbit and it was extremely good game IMO, fun and surprising with solid gameplay and everything I want from my modern sidescrolling 2d shooterplatformer. But is it really necessary to display 15 minutes of ending credits? Did SEGA Benelux or SEGA Australia really put that much creative input into the game so that they should be included in the ending credits? I think not.

Most of the credits consisted of people dealing with marketing, translating or something else not directly affecting my gameplay experience therefore useless information for me. Why does gaming industry see these names relevant to display them to the player, is it some kind of reward for me to endure long lists of names which I really don't want to see. Most of the time skipping ending credits is not a possibility and I really don't want to do it as there might be something hidden at the end of the credit roll. I want to see the whole ending but I really have no need for the information games these days want to show me.

In my opinion the ending credits should contain only the people why really made the game happen and the "useless" names should have their own credit roll which the players would see should they choose to do so in a menu or something like that. Or at least localize the ending credits so that the list would be a lot smaller for each individual.

It seems that the gaming industry don't want players to complete their games and punish us for doing so.

There is one thing that has started increasingly to annoy me more and more in modern video games.

Ending credits.

I mean I dont mean to disrespect the people creating these games but...

I just completed Hell Yeah! Wrath Of The Dead Rabbit and it was extremely good game IMO, fun and surprising with solid gameplay and everything I want from my modern sidescrolling 2d shooterplatformer. But is it really necessary to display 15 minutes of ending credits? Did SEGA Benelux or SEGA Australia really put that much creative input into the game so that they should be included in the ending credits? I think not.

Most of the credits consisted of people dealing with marketing, translating or something else not directly affecting my gameplay experience therefore useless information for me. Why does gaming industry see these names relevant to display them to the player, is it some kind of reward for me to endure long lists of names which I really don't want to see. Most of the time skipping ending credits is not a possibility and I really don't want to do it as there might be something hidden at the end of the credit roll. I want to see the whole ending but I really have no need for the information games these days want to show me.

In my opinion the ending credits should contain only the people why really made the game happen and the "useless" names should have their own credit roll which the players would see should they choose to do so in a menu or something like that. Or at least localize the ending credits so that the list would be a lot smaller for each individual.

It seems that the gaming industry don't want players to complete their games and punish us for doing so.

wow....I'm not sure how to respond. Are you being forced to sit and read the credits? Seriously, are you supposed to be somehow entertained by a list of people's names?

Well, being credited in a game is kind of a thing. You want to be credited in the game because you can put it on your resume. So all those names should be on the credits because they did play a part in making the game happen.

However, if your game has a ridiculously long credit crawl, and anything over a couple minutes qualifies IMHO, and especially if you ALSO have new game plus material or something that means players will not want to just turn off the game, it is really kind to have a skip feature. And not all games do that.

after putting years of blood, sweat, and possibly tears into a game, i think they deserve however long the credits are in a game for acknowledgement. They provided you with hours of enjoyment so the least you could do is not complain about the credits

I enjoy watching credits

@Sploder said:

I enjoy watching credits

Me too. It's part of the sense of accomplishment I get from finishing a game. I also feel like it's the least I can do for the dev team that aren't at the top of the food chain. Specifically, after Thief and System Shock 2, I really wanted to see everyone that was behind those games.

@Sploder said:

I enjoy watching credits

I did until they became LONG AS FUCK!

I do something else while credits roll but stay near by just in case there's a scene after them or something. I don't see how it's a big deal.

@Vinny_Says said:

wow....I'm not sure how to respond. Are you being forced to sit and read the credits? Seriously, are you supposed to be somehow entertained by a list of people's names?

Yeah, a lot of games put content at the end of credits and you tend to miss them if you skip it. Or the credits are unskippable. Once I shut off Yakuza 4 during the credits after I beat the game, and it didn't count, I had to beat the game again and sit through the credits for the game to recognize that I beat it. Really annoying.

But yeah I really hate it when you get to the end of the main dev team in the credits, you think it'll be done soon, but no they list another three studios worth of marketing, PR, accounting, finance, etc. Those people don't have anything to do with making games, they could do those jobs in the film industry, the meat packing industry, the car industry, it's completely irrelevant to the game I'm playing.

Localization is the only one that's relevant, and even that shouldn't be shown if you're not using the localization If I'm playing the English version of the game, I don't care who translated it to Italian. If I played the italian version, then yeah I would care. They should make different credits depending on the region. People who localize movies almost never get credit in the credits, they usually have to add it themselves as part of the subtitles or something.

They're not punishing you for finishing their game, their giving credit where credit's due to the people who worked hard to give you a game you enjoyed. And who are you to decide what jobs are "important" to the game? You just seem impatient and selfish.

Credits have always been long, they're just longer now because more people work on a game. Get over it. Go make yourself a sandwich. Do a few push ups You don't have to sit there and watch the whole thing,

You could just skip them if they bother you so much that you had to write a blog about it.

Well this is bizarre. I finished the same game and sat there watching the credits, and asked myself this very thing.

I mean, did this many people really work on the game? Does anyone know? Because I'm just going to assume the answer is no.

It's like, are you just showing me a list of people currently employed at SEGA, or a list of people that were actually involved in making this game a reality? Because it looks more like the former. I don't want to undermine the work that's put into making even a simple game within a big studio, but I just can't see that there was that much work that needed to be delegated for a project like Hell Yeah. There's only so much "blood, sweat and tears" to go around.

I always watch the end credits, but these days it's become ridiculous... Even the ending songs end before the credits do.

Totally agree with the OP. I used to enjoy sitting through credits. However there is massive credits-bloat in games nowadays and it reflects both the budget and feature-bloat of modern AAA titles. In video games it's common that some part of the ending may come after the credits, so as gamers we know we run the risk of missing it if we decide to skip it. When the credits are absurdly long, that kind of takes the piss. Max Payne 3 in particular was ridiculous - probably rivals the Lord of the Rings films in terms of credits length. A lot of people seem to get credited individually by name for a very minor supportive feature, when a collective credit to their studio would be enough.

Also there's no law that says credits have to be stuck on the end of the game. It used to be pretty common for games to stick the credits under an option in the title menu - and that still is pretty common for games with low budget or without a typical SP campaign. Like I say I used to enjoy skimming them as part of the ending, it's a good place for them - except when they're flippin 15 minutes long.

@MikkaQ said:

But yeah I really hate it when you get to the end of the main dev team in the credits, you think it'll be done soon, but no they list another three studios worth of marketing, PR, accounting, finance, etc. Those people don't have anything to do with making games, they could do those jobs in the film industry, the meat packing industry, the car industry, it's completely irrelevant to the game I'm playing.

Localization is the only one that's relevant, and even that shouldn't be shown if you're not using the localization If I'm playing the English version of the game, I don't care who translated it to Italian. If I played the italian version, then yeah I would care. They should make different credits depending on the region. People who localize movies almost never get credit in the credits, they usually have to add it themselves as part of the subtitles or something.

@Xymox said:

Well this is bizarre. I finished the same game and sat there watching the credits, and asked myself this very thing.

I mean, did this many people really work on the game? Does anyone know? Because I'm just going to assume the answer is no.

It's like, are you just showing me a list of people currently employed at SEGA, or a list of people that were actually involved in making this game a reality? Because it looks more like the former. I don't want to undermine the work that's put into making even a simple game within a big studio, but I just can't see that there was that much work that needed to be delegated for a project like Hell Yeah. There's only so mush "blood, sweat and tears" to go around.

I always watch the end credits, but these days it's become ridiculous... Even the ending songs end before the credits do.

Yeah, exactly my point. 15 minutes of ending credits for a download only PSN/XBLA/Steam release doesn't compute. If the ending credits would contain only the people who actually made the game then it would make sense.

And I am not exaggerating when I say 15 minutes, the ending credits truly last that long so please don't tell me that they all had their hands on making the game.

You should play more ubisoft games their credits are short ass hell.

@Phatmac said:

You could just skip them if they bother you so much that you had to write a blog about it.

And miss the content after the ending credits, no thanks.

I think they may be required by law to credit people in game. Even if the law doesn't, it's probably a good idea to do so for team morale.

Many games don't have the credits at the end anymore though instead having it selectable to be viewed anytime at the main menu, probably in part due to their length. Perhaps that's the way to go

@Phatmac said:

You could just skip them if they bother you so much that you had to write a blog about it.

And miss the content after the ending credits, no thanks.

Okay, have you EVER had a job? Because I have worked for year on products that my name will never be associated with, and I probably have less than 7 of those projects left in my entire lifetime, its called work for hire and it kind of sucks, so you begrudge an industry that is actually acknowledges the immense effort it takes to create things? what kind of ivory tower do you live in, do you think that cheese burger grows on trees and fairies carry it to McDonalds? Everything you touch is the product of the work of dozens of other people, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, a 15 minute credit crawl will make you realize that. Or it will just make you impatient. Whatever.

I only notice the length of credits when my controller turns off, that is when it has gone on for too long.