General Gaming Quantic Dream will self-publish all future titles

[Pikachu]

https://blog.quanticdream.com/twenty-three/

 

Quote

This year, Quantic Dream will celebrate its 23rd birthday.

 

Twenty-three: by that age, a person has left adolescence and is ready to become an adult. That, in many ways, is what Quantic Dream is doing today. After 23 years of learning, discovery, and growth, the studio is now going independent — and we have become masters of our own destiny.

 

Those 23 years have been a phenomenal ride. We’ve collaborated with David Bowie in Nomad Soul; we’ve directed performers like Clancy Brown and Lance Henriksen, Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, Jesse Williams and Bryan Dechart, Pascal Langdale (Heavy Rain’s Ethan Mars) and Valorie Curry (Detroit’s Kara); and we’ve worked with composers like the late Normand Corbeil, Philip Shepphard, and Hans Zimmer, amongst many other talented partners. It would be impossible to mention all the extraordinary artists and creators we have had the good fortune to work with, but each and everyone has been a special collaboration and a unique moment in our 23-year journey.

 

But, even by those standards, the last two years have been exceptional: the success of Detroit: Become Human; the growth of an incredible global community; the launch of our games on PC – these are just a few of our highlights. Thanks to Detroit: Become Human, we’ve been able to realize the vision we held dear since the creation of Quantic Dream.

 

And so, for the first time in 23 years of working with prestigious publishers, we are now in a position to self-publish.

 

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.

 

Everything we have accomplished so far, from our collaboration with David Bowie in 1999 through to our plans for the future, is a reflection of our deeply held convictions. We have remained true to our beliefs, without compromise. This has only been possible because we have an extraordinary and united team of talented people who believe in this vision, and because we have always had an amazing community of gamers who have supported us on our journey. It is thanks to them that we are here today, and thanks to them that, after almost a quarter of a century, we can still dream of making them dream. 

 

Quantic Dream is evolving, but the studio remains true to its roots. We continue to believe that interactivity can be a means of artistic expression, that passion and sincerity are our best allies in reaching gamers, and that the values of humanism, solidarity, and inclusiveness that we have championed in our games for 23 years are more necessary now than ever before.

 

Thanks to you, we will continue to be who we are: different, curious, passionate and sincere, and we will do all we can to keep amazing and moving you.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

And all Quantic Dream games will be Epic exclusive!

[XxEvil AshxX]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

And all Quantic Dream games will be Epic exclusive!

 

Backed by Kickstarter!

[Xbob42]

Damn, when your games are so bad you can't even find a publisher anymore.

[Brian]

When the best Quantic Dream game is a game not developed by Quantic Dream, maybe it’s time for a change. 
 

#UntilDawnGOTY2015

[stepee]

I like their games but I don’t see how this pans out well for them without Sony providing a massive budget to allow them to make their games look like they do which is like most of their appeal. 

[Xbob42]

3 minutes ago, stepee said:

I like their games but I don’t see how this pans out well for them without Sony providing a massive budget to allow them to make their games look like they do which is like most of their appeal. 

So you don't like their games? 

[Greatoneshere]

Quantic Dream makes some of the best visual novel/choose your own adventure-style games out there. I've really enjoyed all of their games, and this is great news for the company. People who shit on their games, I believe, simply don't enjoy the genre they make games in, not realizing they work in the visual novel genre (because they absolutely work in that genre, despite the AAA production level trappings).

[stepee]

They always release very impressive looking games, Detroit looks fantastic. Idk what you mean.

[Xbob42]

3 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

Quantic Dream makes some of the best visual novel/choose your own adventure-style games out there. I've really enjoyed all of their games, and this is great news for the company. People who shit on their games, I believe, simply don't enjoy the genre they make games in, not realizing they work in the visual novel genre (because they absolutely work in that genre, despite the AAA production level trappings).

A cornerstone of the visual novel genre (at least, good ones) is making an excellent story that makes sense, is engaging, captivating and, once again, is coherent. Not a plot hole riddled mess with nonsensical character motivations and twists for the sake of twists. I can't picture anyone playing the Zero Escape Series or even Steins;gate and then a David Cage game and thinking "Boy these sure told equally good stories." If David Cage and his team were capable of actually telling a single coherent story I'd be all over that shit. But they go for visuals and bombastic drama over nuances and detail. I mean, they get the visual detail and "looking at little bits of the environment" down just fine, but not in a meaningful way that makes the plot better, at least they never have for me. 

[Greatoneshere]

7 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

A cornerstone of the visual novel genre (at least, good ones) is making an excellent story that makes sense, is engaging, captivating and, once again, is coherent. Not a plot hole riddled mess with nonsensical character motivations and twists for the sake of twists. I can't picture anyone playing the Zero Escape Series or even Steins;gate and then a David Cage game and thinking "Boy these sure told equally good stories." If David Cage and his team were capable of actually telling a single coherent story I'd be all over that shit. But they go for visuals and bombastic drama over nuances and detail. I mean, they get the visual detail and "looking at little bits of the environment" down just fine, but not in a meaningful way that makes the plot better, at least they never have for me. 

 

Well, if your primary issue is with their stories, I disagree - yes, they tend to be operatic and melodramatic, but that's part of the tone/style. I thoroughly enjoyed Indigo Prophecy, and Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls wasn't great (I agree) but Detroit: Become Human was a lot of fun. I agree with some of your criticisms (I played Disco Elysium as you did, another game that's basically a visual novel, so I'm with you that there's better out there of course) but Quantic Dream has a really nice niche in this space, I think. I think saying: "here's these better visual novel games" does a disservice to Quantic Dreams games because, while of course there are better ones (you mentioned some), that doesn't mean these aren't good. Just not as good as the ones you mentioned. Which ones of their games have you played? All four?

 

On a technical level, their games are great, and on a story level, well . . . that's gonna be subjective. Their games are obviously making enough sales with people to self-publish, so I'm clearly not the only one.  

[Keyser_Soze]

23 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

Quantic Dream makes some of the best visual novel/choose your own adventure-style games out there

 

Ah no

 

In before @Bacon

 

Also the Walking Dead Season 1 is better than any QD game.

[Xbob42]

Well, yes, they sell. People love technical showcases. But I don't think it's too wild to expect a game based primarily around story to minimize things like major plot holes or make motivations clear and sensible. Or just make the world make some sort of sense? Like, in Detroit for example, the only way to know if someone's an android without, like, chopping them up I guess, is their giant glowing thing on their head... but they can also just take that thing out without any hits to functionality? So they can literally just become basically humans and no one in that universe had any other way (at least up to where I got, I did not finish it as I only rented it) to be like, yo, what if they take off their things that tells us they're an android?

And if the only way to tell if they're an android is a beeping light, why are people racist to them again? I think it was about jobs? But if robots do all the jobs then no human should need a job so why would you be on strike to get a job? At some point for society to survive when no jobs are available... no one would be required to do a job to survive or purchase things, because that's stupid.

 

I'm sure at least some of these have some sort of explanation at some point (I think the last thing I asked would've been answered early on, I think it was still fairly early in the Androids-doing-human-jobs thing so it wouldn't have fully transitioned yet, but even then you have to plan for these things and not just let all the humans starve, fucking duh!) but early on it was just question after question of this weird ass world where nothing made sense and I was expected to just not think about it, but also think REALLY DEEPLY about it because David Cage thinks he's an auteur.

I'm no expert on Detroit because I didn't get through it, but I could bitch to you all day about how Heavy Rain falls apart once the killer is revealed and retroactively destroys half the story you just played, and I will! Don't make me! I'll do it! Indigo Prophecy was a much more bombastic sort of falling apart, but in a really dumb way that I found much more enjoyable because it was total schlock. That kind of mood and atmosphere felt much more appropriate for the level of storytelling. Now they've amped up the fidelity to damn near top-tier but the writing staff doesn't seem to have learned a thing. Well, at least all the actors don't sound like European people pretending to be American anymore like at the start of Heavy Rain.

[Greatoneshere]

34 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I'm no expert on Detroit because I didn't get through it, but I could bitch to you all day about how Heavy Rain falls apart once the killer is revealed and retroactively destroys half the story you just played, and I will! Don't make me! I'll do it! Indigo Prophecy was a much more bombastic sort of falling apart, but in a really dumb way that I found much more enjoyable because it was total schlock. That kind of mood and atmosphere felt much more appropriate for the level of storytelling. Now they've amped up the fidelity to damn near top-tier but the writing staff doesn't seem to have learned a thing. Well, at least all the actors don't sound like European people pretending to be American anymore like at the start of Heavy Rain.

 

I think you're too focused on the plot mechanics of a story. I don't really care about those sorts of details so long as the character drama is good, and I feel a sense of emotional involvement with the characters or their troubles. What you seem to take issue with is the film Looper's criticism of "why don't they just dump the bodies in the middle of the ocean?" conundrum. While I grant that suspension of disbelief is important, a lot of what you had issue with can be explained in the game, but it is indeed in the details (not everything is explained, but some). FilmCritHulk, a great film critic I sometimes but don't always agree with, really changed my mind on plot mechanics, etc with this article, if you have time (his articles are always long) I'd give it a read and let me know what you think! It may change your mind on at least some of this. Art is less about plot mechanics, etc., though that's what most people usually take issue with when criticizing art. But art is about how it moves you and makes you feel, not "does this make perfect sense?" Almost all art has dream logic to one extent or another, it's just how much and whether it is internally consistent with itself. 

 

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2012/10/30/film-crit-hulk-smash-hulk-vs.-plot-holes-and-movie-logic

 

Edit: David Cage is also French, and French art and culture works on even more dream logic than American stuff (typically, at least) so I think that's part of it too and needs to be taken into account. 

[Greatoneshere]

30 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Ah no

 

In before @Bacon

 

Also the Walking Dead Season 1 is better than any QD game.

 

I said some of the best games. I really enjoyed The Walking Dead games, Disco Elysium, Hate Story, Hate Plus, etc. I play a good bit of visual novels bruh.  

[Bloodporne]

The best part about this dev is that this dude's name is David Cage which sounds like a terrible early 2000's illusionist with a show on cable access who also does cheap porn on the side, is found out and subsequently spirals into a dubious coke-induced hardcore fetish porn underworld career until his body is finally discovered dressed in an assless Spongebob costume in someone's trunk at the Ukrainian-Polish border

[vaxick]

All I want want from that company is for them to remaster Omikron.  

[heydude93]

Serious question: Does anyone genuinely feel moved by the stories in their games and take them seriously lol?  I could never get into it. Over-the-top, unintentionally corny if not offensive at times, filled with bad tropes and writing that i think will be remembered as insulting to the intelligence of audiences who brainwashed themselves into liking it with a straight face, arguably worse than how stories in games like KOTOR, Sonic Adventure and Elder Scrolls:Oblivion are remembered now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'll concede the most recent stuff does look like a pretty movie, but from the playthroughs I've watched it feels surface level to me.  I have a feeling most movie games ten years from now will make QD's stuff look even more antiquated than it is now.

[Bacon]

Disco Elysium is a visual novel and the reason I have yet to beat it is because I got tired of having to move my character around the map. Shit needs a Fast-forward button. 

[Bacon]

I also haven't really played a JP VN since Steins;gate got its official US release. I got tired of the forced drama that plagues JP VNs.

[Keyser_Soze]

10 hours ago, Greatoneshere said:

Edit: David Cage is also French, and French art and culture works on even more dream logic than American stuff (typically, at least) so I think that's part of it too and needs to be taken into account. 

 

That's something they like to fall back on when they make a game like Detroit that exactly mimics the black civil rights movement but then they have to deny it's in any way related and it's just a game about robots.

[Greatoneshere]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

That's something they like to fall back on when they make a game like Detroit that exactly mimics the black civil rights movement but then they have to deny it's in any way related and it's just a game about robots.

 

Maybe? Seems like quite the assumption. I wouldn't know. France certainly deals with the problem and as a white Frenchman it's quite possible. Look, no one is immune. At least he's provocative.

[finaljedi]

5 hours ago, heydude93 said:

Serious question: Does anyone genuinely feel moved by the stories in their games and take them seriously lol?  I could never get into it. Over-the-top, unintentionally corny if not offensive at times, filled with bad tropes and writing that i think will be remembered as insulting to the intelligence of audiences who brainwashed themselves into liking it with a straight face, arguably worse than how stories in games like KOTOR, Sonic Adventure and Elder Scrolls:Oblivion are remembered now. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I'll concede the most recent stuff does look like a pretty movie, but from the playthroughs I've watched it feels surface level to me.  I have a feeling most movie games ten years from now will make QD look even more antiquated than it is now.

 

I threw in the towel after playing Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain.  Both of those games' stories went to shit about 3/4ths of the way through the game.  The bad guy factions in Indigo Prophecy were literally named after colors and the story got overly funky.  In Heavy Rain the bad guy was a person you played whose internal monologue you got to hear and he never talked about kid murder.

 

Also

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

25 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Maybe? Seems like quite the assumption.

 

What is an assumption? The civil rights thing? David Cage came out and said it.

https://kotaku.com/despite-political-overtones-david-cage-says-detroit-is-1795939952

[Keyser_Soze]

8 minutes ago, finaljedi said:

 

I threw in the towel after playing Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain.  Both of those games' stories went to shit about 3/4ths of the way through the game.  The bad guy factions in Indigo Prophecy were literally named after colors and the story got overly funky.  In Heavy Rain the bad guy was a person you played whose internal monologue you got to hear and he never talked about kid murder.

 

Indigo Prophecy went to shit right after the necrophilia scene and then stopped making sense.

[Greatoneshere]

14 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

What is an assumption? The civil rights thing? David Cage came out and said it.

https://kotaku.com/despite-political-overtones-david-cage-says-detroit-is-1795939952

 

I meant that if they're admitting it, why the denial?

 

12 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Indigo Prophecy went to shit right after the necrophilia scene and then stopped making sense.

 

It got silly, no doubt. But it was fun!

[Keyser_Soze]

9 minutes ago, Greatoneshere said:

It got silly, no doubt. But it was fun!

 

Not really. In fact the QTEs got really hard. My friend never finished the game because of some ridiculous impassible sequence (for him anyway )

[Greatoneshere]

6 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Not really. In fact the QTEs got really hard. My friend never finished the game because of some ridiculous impassible sequence (for him anyway )

 

Hahaha, sounds like he sucks at games.

 

I think everyone is a bit rough on Quantic Dream. I think an independent studio that tries hard, despite the results, deserves to be embraced, similar to Ninja Theory. But that's just my .02. They're not perfect, by any means, but I think how hard the internet rags on them belies a certain unfounded hatred I've never had for their work. They're earnest. They try. They aren't purely commercial. I wish more studios were that way.

[Keyser_Soze]

But Ninja Theory makes games and good ones.

[Greatoneshere]

3 minutes ago, Keyser_Soze said:

But Ninja Theory makes games and good ones.

 

Ah okay, I see. Wonder how Quantic Dream is doing so well they can now self-publish.  

[Keyser_Soze]

1 minute ago, Greatoneshere said:

 

Ah okay, I see. Wonder how Quantic Dream is doing so well they can now self-publish.  

 

Epic

[Greatoneshere]

1 minute ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

Epic

 

I can't argue opinions, but I can present facts.  

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I like adventure games and from a technical perspective, Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls were impressive. But the "twist" at the end of HR was entirely stupid and made me hate the game for the reasons people have stated over and over. I honestly remember very little about Beyond's story, it was that unremarkable. After those two, I really had little desire to pick up Detroit, especially with all the other options out there.

 

From a story telling front, there are much, much better adventure games out there.