If Video Game Boxes Gave Credit, They'd Look Like This...

Posted 8/19/08 9:42 am ET by Tracey John in Boom Blox, David Jaffe, Giving Credit, Super Mario Galaxy, Top Entries, ea, god of war, halo, shigeru miyamoto

Should game developers and designers have their names on the boxes of the games they make?

We posed this question recently to EA CEO John Riccitiello, who explained why Steven Spielberg's name should be on a game box and why Will Wright's shouldn't.

We've read discussions from gamers arguing for and against the idea. Those against say there's too many people to name, that manuals and the end credits are enough and that's it not fair to single certain people out. Those for having names on boxes, including one David Jaffe, say that games should give credit like movies do because the creative and technical folks behind the project really make the game, and the name recognition allows game makers to have the credibility and leverage while making their way through this booming industry.

You can expand the "Boom Blox" images above to test our first example.

Now let's see what what the boxes of "Super Mario Galaxy," "God of War," "Halo 3" and "Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution" would look like if their creators were given credit...

Speaking of giving credit, it should be pointed out that one of our readers suggested that "it wouldn't hurt to have [credits] in small print on the front of the game box... Putting some tiny names on the box near the bottom would take minimal effort."

With that in mind, we decided to try it ourselves to see what credit-laden box art could potentially look like.

[Note: All images were made in Photoshop and involved minimal manipulation of existing box art. If the experiment makes you think creators should get credit and you have a better design, show us.]