A former PlayStation narrative director is circulating a petition urging the creators of the Until Dawn movie to properly credit the game's original writers in the film adaptation.
As Eurogamer reported, Kim MacAskill's petition calls on Sony, a giant in the gaming industry, to "set a new standard by updating the Until Dawn credits" and to "reconsider its policy for crediting intellectual property, especially in cross-media adaptations."
"After my time on Until Dawn, I saw the film's director and writers receive full credit, while [Sony] only listed the project as 'based on the Sony game,' failing to name the key developers behind this iconic title they clearly value," MacAskill stated.
"Those developers dedicated years of intense effort to create something extraordinary, and the public deserves to know who they are... Instead, they receive no credit, no gratitude, and no respect."
MacAskill elaborated further in a LinkedIn post, questioning why HBO's adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us—which credits both the studio and Neil Druckmann as writer and director—differs from the approach taken with the Until Dawn film.
She disclosed that Sony executives "clearly informed" her that "the intellectual property I helped create would never carry my name because I was a salaried employee—I received no royalties, had no creative control, no ownership rights, and no formal acknowledgment." Addressing Sony directly, she added, "I find it difficult to reconcile the special consideration given to Neil Druckmann with the treatment of others within your organization."
According to the creative director, when she inquired about securing rights to the IP she contributed to while employed at Sony, a company representative expressed that they "understood" her viewpoint but stated that granting such requests "is not something [Sony] can accommodate," emphasizing that it was "nothing personal" and that the policy was "a strict company-wide rule."
"All I sought was proper credit and possibly a degree of ownership regarding adaptations," she explained.
"I am urging [Sony] to update their IP crediting guidelines, particularly for transmedia adaptations," MacAskill wrote in the petition. "Granting an executive producer credit or a comparable acknowledgment would honor the creators whose vision and dedication birthed these amazing stories and designs, which have been so influential across the entertainment industry.
"Let's stand up not just for the creators of Until Dawn, but for the integrity of our entire field. By ensuring creative contributors are appropriately recognized, we can encourage future generations of innovators who aspire to push boundaries. Please sign this petition to encourage Sony… and support all game developers… in their pursuit of deserved acknowledgment in cross-media storytelling."
In related news, we recently learned that Until Dawn Remastered is likely to be one of the PlayStation Plus games for May 2025. This may serve as promotional support for the new Until Dawn movie, which premiered just before the weekend. Our reception was lukewarm; we gave it a 5/10 score, noting in IGN's Until Dawn movie review: "Until Dawn proves more frustrating than frightening, abandoning the innovative potential of the original horror game in favor of a disjointed collection of recycled horror-movie tropes."
