Many of the comments on that article go on to talk about how in many industries people don’t get credit at then end of a final product. This is true, and I can see that there is an obvious point to be made: that you can’t ship a list of credits with an automobile etc. But the creative industry has long practiced giving credit to the individuals who labored, sometimes rather intensely, on a film, tv show, or game. Not that I’m always one for silly traditions, but the entertainment industry has been using this as leverage in some instances: promising a pseudo promotion of a fancier credit but wihtout the compensation. What’s worse is that some employees aren’t included intentionally as a form of punishment or just flat out laziness. Forcing someone off of a game credit listing because they left the company before the product shipped is just wrong. As is baiting someone into shipping a game with the promise of a “lead” credit when they are not paid as such, though I can see how many developers might be a bit more willing to overlook this instance. I’ve happily done things in the past that were far outside the scope of my job description. It’s the nature of the beast, sometimes Animation gets slow and you have to move some verts around. But, without fail, it’s something that is abused in game development. The “I did more work than was in my job description but was not compensated” discussion is one for another day though.

Others have also stated that it doesn’t really matter as your resume/CV really shows your credit anyways. That’s fine I guess, until you consider the astounding amount of fraud and theft that takes place, especially amongst artists in this industry. I think the only way you can prove which titles you’ve been on is through some kind of standardized crediting.

It’s easy to take the “who cares” attitude towards something like this. But if that’s the case then why not just take a few hours and get a proper credit list shipped? You’re going to ship credits anyways, and it’s not as if the printing presses charge by the line. So do your employees a service and give them the credit for which they’ve worked.

Started in 1998, Pandemic has been responsible for the “Destroy All Humans!” franchise, “Star Wars: Battlefront”, and “Full Spectrum Warrior” to name a few. More recently “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames” and “Lord of the Rings: Conquest”, their latest releases, haven’t done well with critics or audiences unfortunately and “The Saboteur“, which ships in just a couple of weeks, will be the last title released by the original Pandemic. Part of the studio has been assumed under EA Los Angeles and it looks as though EA will be continuing development of some of the franchises under the Pandemic brand. Unfortunately, 200 jobs, including the three founders of Pandemic, have been cut. It comes at a particularly difficult time as the holidays are just around the corner and California’s economy isn’t exactly booming these days. I wish all those affected including their families the best moving forward. Sorry to hear the news.

In a pretty hilarious gesture of protest, a few of the now former Pandemic employees decided to shoot the following video in an effort to vent some frustration, and perhaps make fun out of a pretty awful situation. Well played sirs. Well played.

Laird posted his reaction to the “fans” on his blog Saturday which you can read here. He really owes nothing to the nay-sayers as he’s already dedicated over two decades of his life to TMNT but instead left a tasteful explanation as to why he’s selling. I’m happy for him and the rest of the people involved and I hope things move in exciting and new directions. One thing people often forget in times like these is that in reality this is a business. No one is taking the old stuff away either. All those books you still have, the VHS Tapes, comics, coloring books, folders, that’s all still there for you to enjoy. This just marks a new era, among many, for the Turtles. One thing that I’m sure is a bit odd, as one commenter had already posted on Jim Lawson’s blog: it must have been hard keeping this whole thing private from the staff at Mirage and hopefully there isn’t any bad blood. Especially with guys like Jim Lawson who have been with Mirage since the beginning. So good luck to everyone at Mirage in this giant transition.

On another interesting note. A new CG TMNT film is slated for release in 2012 which will be distributed by Paramount (also of the Viacom family). It would also seem that Dreamworks and Paramount have had an exclusive distribution deal since 2005. While that doesn’t really mean anything since Paramount isn’t required to use Dreamworks as their sole means for content creation (it’s not a two way deal) it is an interesting prospect. Dreamworks has been pushing those new 3D projectors as well. All just me speculating, but it would make for some juicy nerd-like gossip.