Over the weekend, three different French media outlets reported on wide-ranging accusations of workplace misconduct at Quantic Dream, the Parisian game studio founded by controversial director David Cage and best known for PlayStation exclusives like Heavy Rain and the upcoming Detroit: Become Human. As translated by Eurogamer, the reports in Le Monde, Canard PC, and Mediapart depict the development house as a gross boys’ club ruled over by Cage, who sees the company as a “private, or semi-private space” and “feels he has the right to say whatever he wants,” according to Eurogamer’s translations of a former employee’s account. That allegedly includes making racist and homophobic jokes, having “a lack of consideration for female colleagues,” and making “inappropriate remarks about actresses in his games.” Meanwhile, Guillaume De Fondaumière, Quantic’s co-CEO, stands accused of “hitting on staff at parties” and making an inappropriate amount of contact when greeting employees with Parisian cheek kisses.
Recounting a specific instance of Cage busting out some “hilarious” racist humor, one source told Le Monde that after watching security footage of a burglary, Cage turned to an employee of Tunisian origin and asked if the robber was their cousin. Cage denied making such inappropriate remarks, calling the accusations “ridiculous, absurd, and grotesque.” He even pulled out the old “I’m not racist, I have a black friend” card by reminding Le Monde that he has worked with celebrities that also happen to be social activists. “You want to talk about homophobia? I work with Ellen Page, who fights for LGBT rights,” Cage said, referring to Page’s starring role in Beyond: Two Souls, a game that was released a year prior to Page coming out and becoming a prominent champion of the LGBTQ community. “You want to talk about racism? I work with Jesse Williams, who fights for civil rights in the USA … Judge me by my work.”
But critics have been judging Cage’s work for years, especially when it comes to his portrayals of women. In his most acclaimed game, Heavy Rain, the main female character is subjected to multiple scenes where the camera grossly lingers on her naked body and several scenes that threaten her with sexual violence, from sexual assault nightmares to stripteases at gunpoint. In Cage’s Indigo Prophecy, female lead Carla goes from a tough-as-nails New York cop to the characterless sexual conquest of the male lead, throwing herself at his reanimated corpse in the moments before the game’s climactic battle. According to Le Monde’s sources, several Quantic Dream employees tried to tell Cage about what they perceived to be sexist elements in the company’s next game, Detroit: Become Human, including the “misogynist” nature of a scene depicting violent child abuse. Cage didn’t listen, because, as one source told Le Monde, “David does not listen.” Sony debuted the scene last fall, and it became a magnet for controversy.