David Cage
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About
David Cage is a video game designer who founded the studio Quantic Dream in 1997. He is known for being the writer of games like Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain, and Detroit: Become Human. David is a polarizing figure in the gaming community due to what is perceived as his over-promising of delivering well written, emotional storytelling in his games.
History
David Cage was born in Mulhouse, France on June 9th, 1969.[1] Prior to becoming the founder of Quantic Dream, Cage was a film composer, and most notably wrote the score for the 1995 film Timecop. In 1997, Cage founded Quantic Dream, where he is the co-CEO, lead game designer and screenwriter. The studio became well known for its impressive facial tech and cinematic games which feature primarily quick-time-event-based gameplay. The first game Cage made with the company is Omikron: Nomad Soul (1999) (trailer shown below, left), followed by _Farenheit / Indigo Prophecy (2005) (trailer shown below, right).
Cage and Quantic Dream had their biggest success at the time with Heavy Rain (2010), an interactive game in which the player controls four separate characters in the hunt for a serial killer known as "The Origami Killer" (trailer shown below, left). The game was a critical and commercial success, winning three BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards and earning Cage praise as one of the most unique storytellers in the video game industry. Quantic Dream's next game was Beyond: Two Souls (2013), which starred Ellen Page as the lead character and built off the technical ideas in Heavy Rain (trailer shown below, right).
Cage and Quantic Dream's latest game is Detroit: Become Human. The game was announced on October 27th 2015 at a Sony press conference during Paris Games Week (first trailer shown below). It appeared at both E3 2016 and E3 2017, showing trailers of additional playable characters and gameplay.
Detroit: Become Human was released to generally favorable reviews, opening to a score of 79/100 on Metacritic. Mainstream Critics praised the branching narrative where each choice made by the player can have a dramatic impact on the story. Dualshockers praised it as the "Quintessential Quantic Dream game". Popular outlets such as IGN and GamesRadar gave it positive reviews, though other critics such as The Verge were more critical of the game's lack of subtlety and gameplay.
Online Presence
Online, Cage's work has polarized critics, as some have found his work trope-y and tedious, while others did not. A lot of the YouTube content surrounding Cage's work ended up being negative, notably because of the same trope-y and tedious tone his works usually carried. One of the most notable critics on YouTube is the Super Best Friends Play channel, who have run Let's Plays of all of Cage's games and have been highly critical of each one. One of the channel's first-ever LPs was of Heavy Rain, which started September 7th, 2012. The first episode gained over 790,000 views (shown below, left). The channel's distaste for Cage's game became well-known among their fanbase. When the channel LP-ed Omikron, the title of each episode after episode 20 read "Best Friends Suffer Through Omikron" (shown below, right).
Upon the release of Detroit: Become Human, channel member Woolie Madden posted a "David Cage Bingo Card" which highlighted various tropes that are in all of David Cage's games.
Jim Sterling has also mocked Cage in a video following reports about a toxic work environment at Quantic Dream (shown below, left). Eurogamer posted a video giving a nuanced look into David Cage's works in February of 2015, gaining over 16,000 views (shown below, right).
On the other hand, some youtube critics, such as Cr1TiKal were mostly supportive of his work, deeply criticizing the glaringly negative aspects and outright stating that a lot of his work can be outright laughable and mockable, but overall recommending the less faulty works of Cage such as Detroit: Become Human.
Reputation
Lawsuit Against French Media Outlets
In early 2018 a joint investigation by French media outlets Canard PC[2], Mediapart[3], and Le Monde[4] came out alleging that reporting allegations of sexism, extensive time crunches, racism, and a toxic work environment overall at Quantic Dream. David Cage responded with "You want to talk about homophobia? 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.".[5] On April 23rd it was revealed that David Cage and Quantic Dream were suing the media outlets for their negative coverage. This lawsuit was covered by websites such as Ars Technica,[6] Kotaku[7] and PC Gamer.[8]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – David Cage
[2] Canard PC – Strange atmosphere at Quantic Dream
[3] Mediapart – Les errements de Quantic Dream, pépite française du jeu vidéo
[4] Le Monde – Quantic Dream, un fleuron du jeu vidéo français aux méthodes de management contestées
[5] Eurogamer – David Cage and Quantic Dream "shocked" by allegations of unhealthy studio culture
[6] Ars Technica – Detroit developer sues French press over “toxic culture” reports
[7] Kotaku – Detroit Developer Quantic Dream Sues French Media Over Articles On Toxic Work Conditions
[8] PC Gamer – David Cage's Quantic Dream sues French media outlets over negative coverage
!["I'm not under oath, so can I lie?" - Guillaume de Fondaumière On May 27 and 28, 2021, a trial was held in the Paris court between Quantic Dream and newspapers Le Monde and Mediapart. The video game studio is suing the two newspapers for defamation for articles that reveal: - the existence and distribution within Quantic Dream of racist, homophobic, transphobic and Nazi photomontages. practice of social fraud set up as a system - and more generally a toxic corporate culture - During these two days of trial, the leaders of Quantic Dream competed with arrogance and amateurism. They came to attack the newspapers, but the trial seems to have turned against them as they struggled to defend their decency and dignity. So, which moments should we remember from these two days of grotesque trial? DAVID CAGE stammering, in tears, exclaiming "you are interfering in my business!", "This case is about my honor" before leaving the courtroom, fleeing from the defense lawyers' plea. It is obvious that it was difficult for him to talk about honor as a list of comments he allegedly made in public was cited: "Anyway, in my games all women are w-----", "In the open space, there is a lack of t---" or "At Quantic Dream we don't make games for f---". In the case of social fraud, Quantic Dream proudly displayed documents concerning the dismissal of an employee, supposedly showing the good faith of the company. The defense lawyers thanked Quantic Dream, because after a quick examination, the documents reveal irregularities implying an illegal dismissal. Another terrible moment is when we see a dozen or so identical letters of dismissal, all copy/pasted, with only the name of the employee changing, and always with the same mention of "differences of opinion with the management", including in the case of GUILLAUME DE FONDAUMIERE's self dismissal. He obviously had difficulty following his own directives. Questioned on this subject, the CEO of Quantic Dream, at the end of his arguments, asked the magistrates, eye to eye, "But I'm not under oath, so can I lie?" before making a series of dubious allegations, and evoking a company in serious jeopardy (without however being able to provide any proof of any harm). The gesticulations of the beleaguered CEO might make one smile, if they did not underline the existence of a system of social fraud intended to evade social contributions. The witnesses called by Quantic Dream, all current or former employees of the company, do not fare any better. Praising so much the virtues of the company, they pushed a judge to ask them to "stop with the elements of language". The staff representatives, when asked about the actions taken following the publication of the articles, mentioned "informal talks" without being able to cite more concrete actions. The person in charge of harassment matters at the Social and Economic Committee [CSE, representative body of the staff in a company], for her part, believe that there is no harassment in the company since she never received a message on the subject. And everyone seems to be discovering parts of the case, from the toxic nature of the photomontages to the company's institutional fraud practices. For Solidaires Informatique, beyond the ridiculousness of seeing two bosses stammering when they have to explain their dubious methods, this trial is important, because it dismantles part of the company's vast strategy of rewriting the facts, an agglomeration of intimidation, provocation, false communications and legal proceedings. The verdict will be given on July 8. While waiting for this date, we renew our call for solidarity with the former employees who denounced these practices, whom Edwy Plenel congratulated for their courage and described as "whistleblowers". These people are also subject to judicial repression by the studio Quantic Dream. Some of them are in financial difficulties, without a job or facing important legal fees. https://www.lepotcommun.fr/pot/2vg0oskx Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) Click to shrink...](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/116/508/076.jpg "\"Oh you shouldn't make fun of David Cage, he is a creative visionary!\" David Cage:")
Top Comments
HumbleWaterFilterMerchant
May 31, 2018 at 04:39PM EDT
Admiral Loadsamoney
May 31, 2018 at 04:35PM EDT