NintendoEverything has shared some interesting quotes from a recent interview with MercurySteam CEO Enric Álvarez.
MercurySteam was the main studio who worked with Nintendo to produce Metroid Dread, the long awaited 2D Metroid sequel that released in 2021. Prior to this, MercurySteam also worked with Nintendo on Metroid: Samus Returns, the 3DS remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus on the Game Boy.
Metroid Dread is an indisputable critical and commercial success. Unfortunately, there are several allegations of poor management at MercurySteam. You can read the full account of allegations here, but we will provide a quick summary below:
- Nintendo cut the project down multiple times because MercurySteam was taking on too much work and management was not scaling properly
- MercurySteam management has a culture of punishment used against employees that don’t do things as they tell them to
- Punishment includes isolation all the way to firing employees
- Management forced employees to work in location throughout the pandemic
- HR also treats employees poorly and in bad faith
- Most recently, former employees complained that their credits were removed from the game
One specific source, a former MercurySteam programmer, shared this statement from where most people now characterize the game’s development as chaotic:
“The development of Metroid Dread was quite chaotic. Many times, giving me directions, my lead and the game director would contradict each other and this was always paid for by the workers.
There is talent but many times it is not in the best positions. They manage people very badly and things come out with a lot of sweat and tears.
They don’t trust the worker at all and it shows. You don’t feel valued. The bad atmosphere is constant and it’s very tense, in general.”
Understanding this context, this is Álvarez’ response to the accusations of chaotic development, translated courtesy of NintendoEverything:
“I don’t think the development was chaotic. Chaotic development doesn’t end with one of the best games in the franchise. It doesn’t end with a game that has sold over three point something million copies. It doesn’t end with a game that won TGA awards. That’s all I have to say about it.”
Álvarez was positive about working with Nintendo, calling it “one of the best development experiences we could possibly dream of.” He also said he was “very proud of the collaboration between us and Nintendo.”
To be clear about the accusations against MercurySteam, nobody is accusing anyone in the company of sexual misconduct, assault, or anything along those lines. MercurySteam’s no crunch policy is real, and unfortunately, may also be a factor in some of the studio’s alleged workplace issues.
This is a particularly touchy issue in Spain, where Metroid Dread may rightly be considered one of that country’s game industry’s greatest achievements. For employees to reveal that they were not treated well when making the game puts a sour taste in the mouth of gamers, and Spanish game developers as well.
These issues haven’t led to any investigations or lawsuits in the company, but it certainly casts a dark shadow on one of the big Spanish game companies today in MercurySteam.
