Those responsible for Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human reveal their plans as an independent editor, without being linked to a large company.
Quantic Dream has announced that it becomes an independent studio at all levels. The French firm, which maintained a close relationship with Sony Computer Entertainment in the past and eventually returned to the cross-platform publication in 2019, has issued a statement where they make known their “total independence” to self-publish video games.
"We want to look to new horizons"
David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière, CEO and Deputy CEO of Quantic Dream
A message issued by David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière, CEO and Deputy CEO of the company, begins by taking stock of what has been 23 years of history in the sector; a period in which they have published videogames such as Heavt Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human (precisely, all of them exclusive temporary PlayStation). Of the latter, the exclusivity agreement on PC with Epic Games allowed that, if we only count the copies sold on PlayStation 4 back in May 2018, Detroit has already sold more than 3.2 million units.
But now, almost five years later, the company has achieved sufficient solvency to operate with economic and operational independence, so that all creative and marketing decisions will pass through them. Cage, happy after hearing the news, has also had words for past games, such as The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit, without which they would not be where they are now, he says.
"We want to look to new horizons, keep our passion alive and ensure the idea of making video games that are different," they point out in the note.
They end with a message of thanks in which they highlight a series of adjectives that define them: "different, curious, passionate and sincere."
On January 16, we learned that the team had “many surprises” by 2020. Cage did not anticipate any specific announcement, although he did suggest the possible development of his new work. 2020 will be “even more exciting” than it was 2019. We will have to wait a few weeks or months to know what those plans are about, now yes, as an independent study.
