Update: Quantic Dream has issued an official response to the reports.
Three separate reports went up today (from Le Monde, Canard PC, and Mediapart) that detailed troubling behavior at Quantic Dream. In the separate reports, Quantic Dream’s David Cage is said to be difficult to work with as he demands long hours from his employees, and has an alleged history of making inappropriate remarks. Employees even said that they witnessed Cage making homophobic and racist jokes at work.
What was equally as troubling as the reports themselves was how David Cage responded to them. “You want to talk about homophobia?” said Cage to Le Monde (translation via Eurogamer). “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.”
It really shows how tone-deaf Cage is to respond to serious allegations with a statement that boils down to the fact that he’s worked with a high-profile gay actress and a black actor in the past. Despite having a public relations arm, Cage went with a comically bad defense that he can’t be problematic because he works with minorities. That’s not how it works.
He ends his response by telling people to “judge me by my work.” No. If you’re in a position of power and are meant to be a leader, then you’ll be judged by the type of person you are. It doesn’t matter if your work is good (which can certainly be debated when it comes to the varying quality of Cage’s games) if you’re causing a toxic workplace culture, and don’t respect the rest of your team. This corporate attitude of the end justifies the means makes zero sense, and is only ever touted by those that have something to hide.
Obviously, I can’t speak in-depth to the exact situation with Quantic Dream. I haven’t been able to talk to anyone from the studio yet, but one thing is clear: David Cage has no clue how to deal with criticism. His response is embarrassing, and will only make people think that there are problems within the French studio due to how poorly they come across.
