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Discussion Leaker of debug build for the OG Metroid Prime claims playtesters had to compete for a place in the credits

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(If the timestamp doesn't work, go to 1:08 in the video)

Allegedly, for the European build of the GCN Prime release, playtesters were forced to speedrun the very first level, and only the top 3 in each language would be credited. Such an utterly absurd and cynical way to gamify development, and it's sad to see Nintendo's crediting issues extend far back
 
yeah, that definitely sounds like Retro's management back then. the original founder, Jeff Spangenberg was particularly notorious for frequently being absent. and was eventually straight up thrown out of the company by Nintendo themselves. particularly after he used their servers to host a softcore porn site.
Not only was Spangenberg increasingly absent, the way he ran his company and his extracurricular activities didn’t exactly match with Nintendo’s family-friendly image, specifically a website he had been running in his spare time called “Sinful Summer,” full of pictures from pool parties at Spangenberg’s house with scantily clad women.

“They were all dated, a lot of the pictures had strippers from the local strip club called ‘The Yellow Rose,’ some employees, a lot of friends. A lot of the pool parties were on weekdays,” Mathews recalls.

In 2004, an IGN report claimed employees ran pornographic websites from Retro’s office. According to developers we talked to, these stories were likely embellished versions of the Sinful Summer controversy — which Spangenberg hosted from Retro’s IP address. “Basically this was the thing that cemented the end for him, because once Nintendo caught wind of this, that’s when it was pretty much done,” Mathews says.
Click to expand...
they bounced around multiple other projects until Nintendo stepped in, requesting they just work on one single game that would later become Prime. which was promptly crunched out the door within a year at the cost of a high turnover rate.

it doesn't sound like they're an ideal company to work at today, but it's definitely an improvement from their earlier days at least.
 
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