Former Sony Director Criticizes Until Dawn Credit Omission

A former PlayStation narrative lead is calling on the makers of the Until Dawn film to ensure the video game's original writers are credited in the movie adaptation.

As reported by Eurogamer, Kim MacAskill has launched a petition urging Sony, a titan in the gaming industry, to "revise the Until Dawn credits" and "set a precedent for change" by reforming how intellectual property creators are acknowledged, especially in cross-media adaptations.

"I have just departed the Until Dawn project where the film director, writers, and others were all properly credited," MacAskill stated. "Instead of Sony acknowledging the lead developers who crafted this iconic game they are clearly proud of, they simply labeled it 'based on the Sony game.'"

"Those developers spent years pouring their hearts and minds into creating something incredible, and the world deserves to know their names… Instead, there is no credit. No thanks. No honor."

MacAskill elaborated further in a LinkedIn post, questioning the disparity between HBO's adaptation of Naughty Dog's The Last of Us—which credits both the studio and Neil Druckmann as writer and director—and the approach taken with the Until Dawn movie.

The director recounted that Sony executives "firmly told" her "the IP I personally created would NEVER be credited to me because I was a salaried employee," receiving no royalties, control, ownership, or acknowledgement. Addressing Sony directly, she added, "I am struggling to understand the difference between the favor shown to Neil Druckmann and that shown to others within your company."

She explained that when she inquired about the rights to intellectual property she developed while at Sony, a company representative stated they "understood" her position but "this is not something Sony can do," insisting it was "nothing personal" and a "firm-wide" policy.

"All I wanted was to receive credit and to potentially retain enough ownership to be involved in adaptations," she continued.

"I am asking Sony to revise their approach to intellectual property crediting, particularly for transmedia adaptations," MacAskill wrote in the petition. "Granting an executive producer credit or equivalent acknowledgment would honor the creators whose vision and passion birthed these incredible stories and designs, which have been transformative for entertainment.

"Let's advocate not just for the Until Dawn creators, but for the integrity of the entire industry. By ensuring creative voices are properly recognized, we can inspire future generations of creators to dream beyond existing limits. Sign this petition to urge Sony… and stand with all game developers… in demanding the recognition they deserve in cross-media storytelling."

In related news, it was recently reported that one of the PlayStation Plus games for May 2025 is likely Until Dawn Remastered. This may serve to promote the new Until Dawn film, which premiered just before the weekend. Our review was not particularly glowing; we awarded it a 5/10, noting in IGN's Until Dawn movie review: "Until Dawn is more disappointing than deadly, abandoning all the promise of the horror game for a disjointed collection of horror movie clichés."