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Quantic Dream’s David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumiere have denied allegations published in the French media over the weekend that the studio has an unhealthy culture including overworking staff and racist and sexist jokes, and that they as individuals have both behaved inappropriately towards staff.
The reports in question, by LeMonde, Canard PC and Mediapart, include interviews with former employees describing the studio culture as ‘toxic’, and that Cage demands long working hours from his staff and allegedly does not listen to others well.Â
Elsewhere, de Fondaumiere is accused of making advances towards staff at company parties, which he has categorically denied. ‘It’s absolutely false,’ he said. ‘None of this happened at any evening event.’ Cage, meanwhile, is said to not consider the feelings of female staff and is apparently referred to in-house as ‘Daddy’, ‘God’ and ‘Sun King’. The reports also mention racist and homophobic jokes being made inside teams and management.
Responding as part of the piece in Le Monde, the duo said they were ‘very surprised’ and ‘shocked’ by what they label as the ‘rantings’ of former employees at the studio, best known for working on PlayStation-exclusive titles such as Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls.
‘We categorically deny all of these allegations,’ said a statement issued yesterday by Quantic Dream on Twitter. ‘Quantic Dream filed a complaint several months ago and further complaints will follow. We invite interested parties to read the response of our Employee Representative and Health & Security Committee to questions submitted by the journalists prior to publication. Inappropriate conduct or practices have no place at Quantic Dream.’
— Quantic Dream (@QUANTIC_DREAM) January 14, 2018
One area of the report pertains to a number of photoshopped images that purportedly showcase various ‘collaborators’ of Quantic Dream in sexual positions. Alarmingly, these images, which total in the hundreds, also feature numerous references to homophobic and sexist slurs.Â
‘You want to talk about homophobia? I work with Ellen Page, who fights for LGBT rights,’ commented Cage. ‘You want to talk about racism? I work with Jesse Williams, who fights for civil rights in the USA… Judge me by my work.’
Ellen Page previously ‘explored legal action’ against the studio over the unnecessary creation of a full nude character model for the woman she played in Beyond: Two Souls.
