Exciting (and Scary) Times Ahead
The French development house Quantic Dream are well known for their interactive storytelling where it bridges the gap between movies and video games. They’ve created some critically-acclaimed titles such as Detroit: Become Human, and Heavy Rain. Today, they made an announcement on their official blog that they will be going fully independent, allowing them to take full creative control over their work. After twenty-three years of the company’s lifetime, it has worked with powerhouse publishers like Sony Interactive, and the now feels like they have the funds and the experiences to take on the challenge of going independent.
In the blog post they state:
“This new venture will allow us to make decisions in total independence, and to address the technological and strategic opportunities of next-generation platforms. It will also allow us to help other developers, by providing investment and development support, so that they can fully express their talents. We want to support creators of original projects and help them, in turn, to achieve their vision and offer quality, ground-breaking experiences.
This is more than an evolution — it is a transformation. We are doing this to preserve our freedom and our independence, to continue working on innovative and even more ambitious projects, to address greater challenges, and to create the unexpected. Quantic Dream will never be just another studio. We want to face new horizons, to keep our passion alive, and keep trusting in the idea of making games that are different. “
Going independent is scary for anyone, especially for a large development house like Quantic Dream. Rather than relying on your publisher’s money, now they have to risk their own in developing their games. This seems like a trend we are beginning to see with some large developers, such as Hideo Kojima’s development house, and Platinum Games expressing interest in it as well. We wish them the very best and we hope to continue seeing groundbreaking games from Quantic Dream.
Source: Quantic Dream