French developer Quantic Dream has denied all allegations of unhealthy studio culture, and CEO David Cage has said the accusations are plain ridiculous.
As reported by Eurogamer, several French reports surfaced this weekend which all pointed at a rather toxic culture at the studio responsible for titles such as Heavy Rain, and the upcoming PS4 exclusive Detroit: Become Human. In the reports, founders David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière are both accused of inappropriate behavior and overworking their staff. For more details about the allegations that have surfaced, we suggest you read the full Eurogamer article as linked above.
De Fondaumière and Cage have denied all of the allegations, and the latter said the accusations were "ridiculous, absurd and grotesque”. "You want to talk about homophobia?" Cage said. "I work with Ellen Page, who fights for LGBT rights. You want to talk about racism? I work with Jesse Williams, who fights for civil rights in the USA... Judge me by my work."
Following Eurogamer’s initial report, de Fondaumière again refuted all accusations. "Please note I categorically refute all allegations, in particular 'hitting on staff'", the Quantic Dream founder told Eurogamer.
In addition to de Fondaumière’s response above, the CEO also issued a statement on his Twitter yesterday evening, which we included below:
"Articles published today level various allegations against Quantic Dream, its management and employees.
"We categorically deny all of these allegations. Quantic Dream filed a complaint several months ago and further complaints will follow.
"We invite interested parties to read the responses of our Employee Representatives and Health & Security Committee to questions submitted by the journalists prior to publication.
"Inappropriate conduct or practices have no place at Quantic Dream. We have taken and always will take such grievances very seriously.
"We value every single person who works at Quantic Dream. It is of utmost important to us that we maintain a safe environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for making video games."
Whether true or not, these allegations will likely have impact on the upcoming, already controversial, release of Detroit: Become Human later this year.
About the author: Passionate gamer since the NES era and begun writing about games in 2014. Joined Wccftech gaming section in 2015. Has owned every console since then. Can never make up his mind on what console to play. Weird sense of humor but can be funny from time to time.
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