- Hyde is one of many game studios that often works in the shadows. Some call the approach "white label development," "ghost development" or "secret team." And it’s been around almost as long as video games have been.
With Kickstarter and social media making developer reputations more important than ever, Polygon recently looked into some of the reasons why it happens and the benefits and problems it can cause. Yanagihara says he enjoys working in secret, and he’s happy to take the good with the bad. For others it can be a source of frustration, a lack of choice or the only way to stay in business.
The crediting issue is a much bigger deal for individual developers. Plenty of these small studios shut down after shipping. Now you have a several year gap on your resume and you can barely explain what you did. These gag orders are incredibly damaging, but game devs are a dime a dozen right now, it's really hard to push for a higher bar when someone else is willing to do the work without caveats.