Mild spoilers ahead for God of War: Ragnarök. A music intern who worked for Santa Monica Studios on God of War Ragnarök has revealed that she was not credited for her contribution to the sequel. Jessica Mao shared her story on social media, confirming that her name was “not in the credits, and apparently it can’t be added in a patch update.”
Mao is a composer who worked full time as a music production intern with the studio on God of War Ragnarök, a tenure from June to August 2021. Her responsibilities with the developers included arrangement, editing, and the implementation of music within scenes of the game, including the Freya chase sequence and the Thor boss fight. Mao said she “was told that to be credited, my contribution to the game must hit some “minimum criteria,” hence my tweet from Monday. Still not sure what this criteria could be…”
this was incredibly disappointing and discouraging for me to learn, and i'd hate for anyone else to go through it.
game devs, please credit EVERYONE who participates in the development of a game. it only makes sense.
have a beautiful day 💙
/end
— jessica mao is recovering from TGS 🛌 (@jmaomusic) November 18, 2022
In another post, Mao said she found the experience “incredibly disappointing and discouraging for me to learn, and I’d hate for anyone else to go through it,” before urging game developers to credit anyone and everyone participating in the development of a game, stating that “it only makes sense.”
Responses are coming in far and wide for Mao in support of her story, including a tweet from a senior audio technical designer at Santa Monica Studio, Sean LaValle. LaValle said he was “very sorry”, adding that he “fully agree[s] everyone who contributed to a project should be credited. It may indeed be too late but I will definitely ask about this.”
I'm very sorry to hear about this Jessica! I fully agree everyone who contributed to a project should be credited.
It may indeed be too late but I will definitely ask about this.
— Sean LaValle (@SeanLaValle) November 18, 2022
Staff members that worked on a game to any degree should always be credited for the work they did, so we hope that Mao can somehow get the credit she deserves. The music of God of War Ragnarök is a huge part of what makes it so epic, and each person who contributed to that did an excellent job.
God of War: Ragnarök is available now on the PS4 and PS5. Have you played God of War: Ragnarök, and if not, do you plan to? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news!
