Jump to content

Quantic Dream

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quantic Dream SA
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Founded2 May 1997; 27 years ago (1997-05-02)
FounderDavid Cage
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Key people
Number of employees
Increase 200+[1] (2022)
ParentNetEase (2022–present)
Websitequanticdream.com

Quantic Dream SA is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1997, the company has developed five video games: The Nomad Soul (1999), Fahrenheit (2005), Heavy Rain (2010), Beyond: Two Souls (2013), and Detroit: Become Human (2018). The company is known for promoting interactive storytelling, with founder David Cage as the primary creative force. The studio was acquired by NetEase in August 2022 to act as its first European studio.

History

[edit]
The original logo for Quantic Dream (1997–2019)

David Cage, originally a composer, started writing the concept and story of The Nomad Soul in 1994. He sent the script to contacts he had acquired during his time making music, who noted that it was not technically feasible. To prove them wrong, Cage hired a team of friends and made an office out of a sound booth, with a financial deadline of six months to come up with a game engine and prototype. In the final week, Cage travelled to London and met with publisher Eidos Interactive. With the project funded and a publisher secured, The Nomad Soul was in full development; musician David Bowie played two characters and created ten original songs. Cage subsequently founded Quantic Dream on 2 May 1997 and incorporated it as a société anonyme on 3 June; the company's name draws influence from the term "quantum physics".[2][3][4][5][6] The game was released in November 1999, selling more than 600,000 copies.[7][8] Quantic Dream later provided motion capture for the 2004 film Immortal.[9]

David Cage in 2008

They followed The Nomad Soul with Fahrenheit, published by Atari in September 2005, introducing elements that would endure in their later games—ethical ambiguity, romance, the inability to perish, and interactive storytelling. It received multiple awards and sold over one million copies.[2][10] The same year, Quantic Dream revealed The Casting, a technology demonstration of what could be accomplished on PlayStation 3.[3][11] This preceded the partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment to bring Heavy Rain into existence, marking "something more personal" for Cage.[2] Heavy Rain launched in 2010 to critical acclaim,[12] winning three awards at the 7th British Academy Games Awards and selling a total of 5.3 million copies.[13][14] By late 2011, another deal had been established with Sony.[2] The following year, Quantic Dream showed another PlayStation 3 tech demo, Kara, taking advantage of new investments in motion capture facilities.[11] The second title with Sony was 2013's Beyond: Two Souls, starring actors Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe,[4][15] which received mixed reviews from critics and managed to sell 2.8 million copies.[16][17] It was the second video game to be shown at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013,[18] when The Dark Sorcerer, a tech demo on PlayStation 4, was unveiled.[19]

In 2014, Quantic Dream doubled their investment in Vicon, whose motion capture technology was previously used in Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.[20] The company's fifth video game and third published by Sony, Detroit: Become Human, was announced the year after. Based on the Kara tech demo,[21] it spent four years in development before releasing in May 2018.[22][23] Quantic Dream's most successful launch at the time,[24] it sold 3.2 million copies.[25] Around then, Quantic Dream employed 180 staff members,[26] five fewer than were reported in 2016.[27] Chinese Internet conglomerate NetEase secured a minority investment into Quantic Dream in January 2019 for an undisclosed amount.[28] With this, Quantic Dream's chief operating officer Guillaume de Fondaumière stated that they would no longer be limited to PlayStation-exclusive titles.[29] Starting with the PC versions of Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human (released throughout 2019), Quantic Dream set out to self-publish its titles.[30][31] The company opened a new studio in Montreal, Quebec, named Quantic Dream Montreal, in February 2021, to be led by Stephane D'Astous and with Yohan Cazaus as gameplay director.[32]

Star Wars Eclipse was announced at The Game Awards 2021; it is an action-adventure game in the early stages of development by Quantic Dream and licensed under the Lucasfilm Games brand. The game will feature multiple playable characters with branching narratives.[33] It is set in the Star Wars universe and is part of the High Republic multimedia project, which places the events of the game 200 years before The Phantom Menace.[34][35][36] According to the reports of some insiders, the game is expected to be released in 2027 at the earliest; industry analysts attributed this long development timeline to an inability to attract staff because of the studio's poor reputation as a place of work. Players used the hashtag "#BlackoutStarWarsEclipse" on Twitter to call on Disney to revoke the Star Wars license from Quantic Dream on account of the studio's history of hostile workplace reports.[37]

In August 2022, NetEase announced the acquisition of Quantic Dream after the 2019 minority investment done in the company. After this, the studio will become a subsidiary part of its parent company and will help NetEase objective to have more console game releases.[38] Quantic Dream said that over the years prior that there had been several offers to buy the studio, and they had selected NetEase's proposal as it was favorable to their continued development.[39]

In June 2023, Quantic Dream revealed the brand name, Spotlight by Quantic Dream, under which it will continue publishing third-party games made outside the studio. The new label was officially unveiled during Summer Games Fest, where the company showed off trailers for its next two releases, Under the Waves and Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior.[40]

Philosophy

[edit]

Quantic Dream's video games are written and directed by Cage and branded accordingly, with the purpose of making new intellectual properties.[2][41] Cage has declared that his mission is to evoke emotion through interactive storytelling, highlighting empathy, sadness, and guilt in opposition to frustration, competition, and anger. As such, he described purchasing Heavy Rain as a "political act" that others like it could be made.[42][43][44] The developer strives to appeal to gamers and non-gamers alike,[45] considering video games to be the same as any artform.[4] It is customary at Quantic Dream to develop an engine for each new game, hardware, or platform; Cage believes that, while an engine's methodology can be ported, its code cannot.[2][44] Tech demos have likewise become tradition.[11][19][46] In France, Quantic Dream is afforded a 20% tax break on production costs, without which Cage has said he would move the company to Canada to keep up with the competition.[2]

Hostile workplace reports

[edit]

In January 2018, three French news outlets—Le Monde,[14] Mediapart,[47] and Canard PC[48]—published the results of a joint investigation into the company's business practices. Le Monde called Quantic Dream "a toxic corporate culture, management with inappropriate words and attitudes, under-considered employees, overwhelming workloads and questionable contractual practices".[14] First among the issues raised by the newspapers, Cage and de Fondaumière were said to have participated in or encouraged a sexist and racist culture, with controversial images exchanged by email and posted around the office including photos of studio collaborators and employees digitally edited to appear as Nazis or porn stars.[49] Canard PC stated that the entire IT department had quit in March 2017 because of these "bad jokes".[48][50] Second, studio management was accused of employing an arduous "crunch time" schedule in which 15–35 additional hours of work per week were expected for a year before a game's launch.[48] Third, the human resources department was accused of colluding to terminate fixed-term contract staff before their deal expired, violating French labour laws, and arranging settlements to remove employees who did not fit in with the studio culture.[48] In particular, the reports outlined how de Fondaumière conspired with the company to use French labor laws to contest his dismissal in 2016 and obtain a €60,000 compensation fee that was not subject to social security collection via URSSAF.[51]

Cage and de Fondaumière denied the reports.[26] In February 2018, the studio called the charges a smear campaign in an official statement.[52] They levied lawsuits against Le Monde and Mediapart in April 2018, while Canard PC received two "threatening letters".[53] Several employees who had left or been terminated filed suit against Quantic Dream.[49] That July, Quantic Dream lost a court case against one of the employees who left due to the hostile workplace culture.[49] The employee sought to reclassify their resignation as a wrongful termination under the French employment law of prise d'acte.[54] This case was later overturned; the Court of Appeal of Paris explained that none of the specific photos depicting this particular employee were degrading and therefore did not qualify for wrongful termination under prise d'acte.[55] In a separate case brought by another former employee, the Parisian employment tribunal found for the employee, stating that the studio had allowed the "homophobic, misogynistic, racist, or even deeply vulgar" dissemination of the photos to continue in the workplace,[50] and further ordered Quantic Dream to pay €5,000 in addition to a €2,000 fee in December 2019 after finding that the company "[remained] passive in the face of this practice more than questionable, which can not be justified by the 'humorous' spirit of which the company avails itself, the employer has committed a breach of the obligation of security".[56][57] Other cases remain pending.[54]

The trials against news outlets Le Monde and Mediapart were held in May 2021.[51][58] The verdict was given on 9 September 2021. In a personal libel suit brought by Cage and de Fondaumière, accusations against Le Monde were recognised by the court, as Le Monde refused to disclose the identity of the anonymous sources it had used and thus had failed to meet the burden of proof.[59][60][61][62][63] The court ruled in favor of Mediapart in the personal suit, dismissing charges related to three of seven passages in their report about Quantic Dream, while stating that the other four were made in "good faith" as they had "a sufficient factual basis" as to not qualify for libel.[62][63] Separate cases filed against Le Monde and Mediapart on behalf of Quantic Dream as a company also found in favor of the defendants, clearing them of the libel charges.[61]

Games

[edit]

Developed

[edit]
Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
1999 The Nomad Soul[a] Microsoft Windows, Dreamcast[64] Eidos Interactive
2005 Fahrenheit[b] PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4[65] Atari, Aspyr,[66] Quantic Dream
2010 Heavy Rain PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4,[67] Microsoft Windows[68] Sony Computer Entertainment, Quantic Dream
2013 Beyond: Two Souls
2018 Detroit: Become Human PlayStation 4,[23] Microsoft Windows[68]
TBA Star Wars Eclipse TBA Quantic Dream
Notes
  1. ^ The Nomad Soul was retitled Omikron: The Nomad Soul in North America, which Cage saw as the publisher's lack of confidence in its marketability and said contributed to its poor sales.[2]
  2. ^ Fahrenheit was retitled Indigo Prophecy for the North American release; Cage accused the publisher of not seeing its market potential.[2]

Published under the label Spotlight by Quantic Dream

[edit]
Year Title Platform(s) Developer
2021 Sea of Solitude: The Director's Cut Nintendo Switch Jo-Mei Games
2023 Under the Waves PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft Windows Parallel Studio
2024 Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows Sand Door Studio
Dustborn PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft Windows Red Thread Games

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Quantic Dream, Talent Network". Archived from the original on 28 January 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "David Cage: From the brink". MCV. 28 September 2011. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b Wilms, Elisa (21 May 2018). "Meet the studio behind Detroit: Become Human". IGN. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018.
  4. ^ a b c Batchelor, James (26 October 2016). "Cage: "Games should be about what players feel, not what they do"". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016.
  5. ^ Quantic Dream [@Quantic_Dream] (25 April 2019). "On May 2, Quantic Dream will be 22 years old. #Happy22QD" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 7 May 2019 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "Company information QUANTIC DREAM". Infogreffe. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019.
  7. ^ Staff (21 September 2013). "The Making Of: Omikron: The Nomad Soul". Edge. Archived from the original on 28 February 2014.
  8. ^ Gibson, Ellie (17 March 2005). "Quantic Dream considers Omikron II". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 17 January 2012.
  9. ^ Murphy, Richard (7 October 2013). "David Bowie cameos and fully-rendered penises - the bizarre history of Quantic Dream". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 7 October 2013.
  10. ^ "Fahrenheit". Quantic Dream. Archived from the original on 14 July 2018.
  11. ^ a b c Robinson, Martin (7 March 2012). "Introducing Quantic Dream's Kara". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012.
  12. ^ "Heavy Rain for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 4 February 2018.
  13. ^ Dutton, Fred (16 March 2011). "Gaming BAFTA winners revealed". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013.
  14. ^ a b c Audureau, William (14 January 2018). "Quantic Dream, un fleuron du jeu vidéo français aux méthodes de management contestées". Le Monde (in French). Archived from the original on 14 January 2018.
  15. ^ Brightman, James (5 July 2012). "Games 'will die' if industry doesn't do more to innovate, says Cage". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012.
  16. ^ "Beyond: Two Souls for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 22 December 2017.
  17. ^ Caballero, David (16 July 2018). "Beyond: Two Souls reportedly sold 2.8 million copies so far". Gamereactor. Archived from the original on 17 August 2018.
  18. ^ Gaston, Martin (22 March 2013). "Beyond: Two Souls selected for Tribeca Film Festival". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014.
  19. ^ a b Funk, John (11 June 2013). "Watch all 12 minutes of Quantic Dream's PS4 tech demo 'The Dark Sorcerer'". Polygon. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013.
  20. ^ "Quantic Dream doubles its investment in Vicon". Vicon. 17 April 2014. Archived from the original on 20 March 2018.
  21. ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (27 October 2015). "Heavy Rain Dev Announces Detroit: Become Human for PlayStation 4". IGN. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015.
  22. ^ de Fondaumiere, Guillaume (23 April 2018). "Detroit: Become Human Goes Gold, Demo Tomorrow". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018.
  23. ^ a b Cage, David (1 March 2018). "Detroit: Become Human Launches May 25". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018.
  24. ^ Grubb, Jeff (21 June 2018). "Detroit: Become Human is Quantic Dream's best game launch ever". GamesBeat. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018.
  25. ^ Quantic Dream [@Quantic_Dream] (3 October 2019). "We are delighted to announce that Detroit: Become Human has now sold in excess of 3 million units on PS4 worldwide!" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 8 October 2019 – via Twitter.
  26. ^ a b Purchese, Robert (15 January 2018). "David Cage and Quantic Dream "shocked" by allegations of unhealthy studio culture". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 10 July 2018.
  27. ^ Inside PlayStation (18 August 2016). Detroit: Become Human - Warum eure Entscheidungen wichtiger sind als je zuvor. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017 – via YouTube.
  28. ^ McWhertor, Michael (29 January 2019). "Quantic Dream receives investment from NetEase to develop next-gen games". Polygon. Archived from the original on 29 January 2019.
  29. ^ Crecente, Brian (29 January 2019). "Quantic Dream Defends Studio's Culture in Wake of NetEase Investment". Variety. Archived from the original on 4 February 2019.
  30. ^ Webster, Andrew (20 March 2019). "Quantic Dream is bringing PlayStation games like Detroit and Heavy Rain to Epic's PC store". The Verge. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019.
  31. ^ Bailey, Dustin (16 May 2019). "Detroit: Become Human PC release date set for autumn, and it'll have a demo". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on 16 May 2019.
  32. ^ Makuch, Eddie (2 February 2021). "Quantic Dream Opens New Office In Montreal, Brings On Assassin's Creed Veteran". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  33. ^ updated, Josh WestContributions from Heather Wald last (12 October 2022). "Star Wars Eclipse: Everything we know so far about the new Quantic Dream game". gamesradar. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  34. ^ Macgregor, Jody (9 December 2021). "Star Wars Eclipse is a multi-character narrative game set in the High Republic era". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  35. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (9 December 2021). "Star Wars: Eclipse is a new action-adventure game set in the High Republic era from Quantic Dream". The Verge. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  36. ^ Reilly, Luke (9 December 2021). "Heavy Rain Studio Quantic Dream Is Officially Making a Star Wars Game". IGN. Archived from the original on 10 December 2021. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
  37. ^ Bevan, Rhiannon (4 March 2022). "Star Wars Eclipse Reportedly Won't Release Until 2027 Because No One Wants To Work On It". TheGamer. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  38. ^ "NetEase Games acquires Quantic Dream". 31 August 2022.
  39. ^ "Why Quantic Dream sold up after 25 years". 31 August 2022.
  40. ^ "Quantic Dream announces its indie label Spotlight, and its first two releases". VGC. 8 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  41. ^ Gibson, Ellie (21 March 2013). "Heavy Rain dev confirms work on PS4 game has begun". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 24 March 2013.
  42. ^ Welsh, Oli (17 February 2010). "Heavy Rain's David Cage • Page 2". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 7 February 2018.
  43. ^ Ingham, Tim (3 March 2011). "Call Of Duty meets Heavy Rain: David Cage to make 'emotional war game'". Computer and Video Games. Archived from the original on 5 March 2011.
  44. ^ a b Staff (2 July 2012). "David Cage on Kara, cinema, and the future of games". Edge. Archived from the original on 31 May 2013.
  45. ^ Gallagher, James (18 March 2011). "David Cage on Heavy Rain BAFTA Award Wins, Quantic Dream's Next Project". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 20 March 2011.
  46. ^ Hanson, Ben (26 September 2013). "Quantic Dream's Tech Demos And Mysterious PlayStation 4 Project". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013.
  47. ^ Goanec, Mathilde; Israel, Dan (14 January 2018). "Les errements de Quantic Dream, pépite française du jeu vidéo". Mediapart (in French). Archived from the original on 15 January 2018.
  48. ^ a b c d Kalash, Maria (14 January 2018). "Drôle d'ambiance à Quantic Dream". Canard PC (in French). Archived from the original on 15 January 2018.
  49. ^ a b c Phillips, Tom (26 July 2018). "Detroit, Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream loses employment court case". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018.
  50. ^ a b "Le studio de jeux vidéo Quantic Dream condamné aux prud'hommes pour des photomontages". Le Monde (in French). 2 December 2019. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  51. ^ a b Dealessandri, Marie (22 June 2021). "Quantic Dream and union at odds over "grotesque" trial". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 5 April 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  52. ^ Wales, Matt (6 February 2018). "Quantic Dream: allegations of unhealthy studio culture are a "smear"". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 6 February 2018.
  53. ^ Schreier, Jason (23 April 2018). "Detroit Developer Quantic Dream Sues French Media Over Articles On Toxic Work Conditions". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 8 June 2018.
  54. ^ a b Taylor, Haydn (27 July 2018). "Former Quantic Dream employee wins court case against developer". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 3 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  55. ^ Dealaessandri, Marie (12 April 2021). "Court overturns ruling against Quantic Dream over unfair dismissal". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 4 June 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  56. ^ Dealessandri, Marie (3 December 2019). "Quantic Dream to pay former employee €7,000 over offensive photoshopped image". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019.
  57. ^ Chalk, Andy (2 December 2019). "Quantic Dream ordered to pay former employee over failed 'security obligations'". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  58. ^ "Quantic Dream Vs LeMonde / Mediapart". Solidaires Informatique. 31 May 2021. Archived from the original on 22 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  59. ^ "Quantic Dream vs Le Monde and Médiapart : behind the theatrics, facts". Le Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo. 9 September 2021. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  60. ^ Dealessandri, Marie (21 September 2021). "Quantic Dream wins one libel case, loses another - Report". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  61. ^ a b Phillips, Tom (21 September 2021). "Quantic Dream bosses successfully sue French newspaper Le Monde for libel". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 21 September 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  62. ^ a b Phillips, Tom (25 September 2021). "French outlet which successfully defended itself from Quantic Dream bosses' lawsuit releases statement". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  63. ^ a b Price, Renata (21 September 2021). "Detroit Dev Quantic Dream Wins Lawsuit Without Actually Disproving Misconduct Allegations". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  64. ^ Sarkar, Samit (15 January 2016). "Omikron: The Nomad Soul available free in memory of David Bowie (update)". Polygon. Archived from the original on 15 January 2016.
  65. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (17 June 2016). "Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered is coming to PS4 in July". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 18 June 2016.
  66. ^ "Aspyr - Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered". Aspyr. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019.
  67. ^ O'Brien, John (16 June 2015). "Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls are coming to PS4". PlayStation Blog. Archived from the original on 17 June 2015.
  68. ^ a b Wilde, Tyler (20 March 2019). "Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls, and Heavy Rain are coming to PC". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Quantic_Dream&oldid=1258709784"