Yesterday Nintendo launched a fun new way to celebrate the many wonderful soundtracks that have accompanied its game for years. It debuted Nintendo Musican app dedicated to the soundtracks of its legendary history. It's only available to Nintendo Switch Online members, making it another unique driver of Nintendo's entry into subscription services.
There's just one problem. The app does not credit any composers. If you go into the app and choose a song, the “Track Information” button contains only the name, the game it appears in, and a Nintendo copyright notice.
Developers and game music professionals noticed the omission shortly after the app's launch on October 30, 2024. Assistant Audio Editor Nabil Mehari he was one of many to draw attention to uncredited artists, including veteran composers Koji Kondo AND Ryo Nagamatsu.
“Once again Nintendo is trying to maintain the illusion that everything they release is created from a monolith, and it's disappointing,” Mehari wrote.
The list of unnamed composers included is quite long. Yuka Tsujiyoko is not credited for her work on the Fire Emblem series. Kenji Yamamoto is not listed as the master of the music behind it Metroid Prime. Do you want to know who composed KK Slider's brilliant songs? Kazumi Totaka and his collaborators are sadly absent.
Nintendo has been having trouble with developer credits lately
Nintendo's new celebration of its vaunted soundtracks is another innovative way it is attracting customers to its online subscription service. It's also another crafty way to take advantage of your audio files, like the Nintendo sound watch done earlier this month.
But its innovative successes risk being overshadowed by a growing reticence to adequately credit developers. In July, Game Developer learned its credit policies they were leaving third-party translators without credits, denying them a much-needed boost on their resumes.
Elsewhere, it has begun to become strangely reluctant to share what game studios are working on its projects in development.
What's happening at Big N? No clues. For now, the developers are waiting for answers. Although standardizing credit rules could be a benefit if someone did it form a union at Nintendo…
The game's developer has reached out to Nintendo for comment and will update this story when a response is given.