“It has been a weird roller coaster of processing to go on as a queer fan… my immediate thoughts about Quantic Dream developing Eclipse-before I understood the scope of the allegations against them-were more along the lines of, ‘Eh, whatever. But with or without his involvement, for some Star Wars fans, Quantic Dream being Lucasfilm Games’ latest partner in expanding its production on games set in the galaxy far, far away was less of a dream and more of a nightmare because of these allegations-especially for queer fans like Chase.
Although the case was initially decided in the employee’s favor, in April 2021 the French Court of Appeals overturned the case, asking the employee to pay compensation to Quantic Dream totalling €10,138 (roughly $11,450).Ĭage’s direct level of involvement with Star Wars Eclipse is unknown, outside of the Writer/Director sharing its trailer on social media with the message that he was “happy to reveal” Eclipse to the world, and that “having the chance to contribute to this amazing franchise is a dream come true.” We’ve reached out to Quantic Dream to clarify Cage’s relationship with the game, and for further commentary on their legal cases this year, but did not hear back by time of publication. Separately, an individual employee took Quantic Dream to court in July 2018, suing the studio for damages citing that an alleged toxic work environment–including accusations of derogatory edited images being shared by staff of them–had lead to an unfair dismissal. Others purportedly included “In the open space, there is a lack of tits,” and “At Quantic Dream, we don’t make games for f**s.” Quantic Dream and its founders denied the allegations found in the reports in 2018, before bringing Mediapart and Le Monde to court in the same year. “Anyway, in my games, all women are wh***s,” was one such purported statement read out during the trial, according to the independent French union Solidaires Informatique. While appearing before the court in June 2021, Cage reportedly stormed out of the courtroom in tears after being made to hear a lawyer read out a list of alleged statements he had made to Quantic Dream staff. The flashpoint for shock at the thought of the studio getting its hands on the galaxy far, far away, however, instead centered on alleged comments by David Cage in particular that were raised during the court case earlier this year. As has been made clear in recent years and through important investigative reporting, the video game industry on a considerable scale has long had issues with perpetuating cultures that fostered sexist, homophobic, and bigoted attitudes, and studios have long wrestled with the nature of labor issues such as union organization and crunch-in this regard, the allegations against Quantic Dream are not an exception to the wider industry. It wasn’t just allegations of Quantic Dream hosting a toxic workplace environment that irked Star Wars fans, though.
#STAR WARS ECLIPSE GENRE PC#
The French courts sided in favour of Quantic Dream in its libel case against Le Monde in September 2021 over the joint investigation with Canard PC and Mediapart, but it simultaneously sided against the studio in its case against Mediapart-the courts citing that Mediapart had successfully proved its practices in reporting the investigation-failing to refute the wider reporting about Quantic Dream’s misconduct. The case was ongoing for a number of years, wrapping up a few months ago in a mixture of success and failure for both Quantic Dream and the journalists it targeted.
#STAR WARS ECLIPSE GENRE SERIES#
But the reports also levelled a series of disturbing allegations about founders Cage and de Fondaumière, claiming that the developers perpetuated a provocative and bigoted culture of harassment at Quantic Dream.Īt the time, Quantic Dream denied the allegations found in the reports, and then a week later took two of those outlets, Le Monde and Mediapart, to court, suing them for libel. In 2018, a joint investigation by French press outlets Le Monde, Canard PC, and Mediapart reported wide-ranging claims of a toxic workplace culture at the studio, including accusations of a culture of crunch (the practice of intense overtime work by staff in the run-up to release of a title), the violation of French labor laws by the studio’s HR department, and more. But in more recent years the studio has been embroiled in controversies beyond the quality of its games and the stories they want to tell.
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