One thing you can say about Quantic Dream is that they don’t care what the majority of developers are doing. They’ve managed to find a niche, much like Telltale, and have burrowed deeper instead of ranging wider; not that it’s a bad thing. But it may change, now that Quantic Dream is opening a new studio in Montreal.
Quantic Dream is known for games like Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human. The projects focus on narrative-and-choices more than compelling gameplay, but the company still manages to create some great “set-pieces”. I’ll never forget crawling through broken glass and using a pair of scissors to chop off my own finger.
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However, they don’t plan on repeating themselves. As studio head David Cage said, they “believe that there are other ways of telling moving and emotional stories…and [they’re] really interested in exploring new directions.”
As for the new team, he reveals it’s a “human-sized” team. The intention is to create a sort of secondary arm rather than a new studio, with both teams working on the developer’s new game. In other words, “the idea behind the decision isn’t to pump out games as quickly as possible…[but]…[to hire] the best and most experienced talents.”
This comes after Quantic Dream ended their 12-year marriage with Sony and returned to creating multi-platform games. The developers also renewed its motion capture studio, added a 7.1 Surround Sound studio, and have started to build a photogrammetry studio.
Finally, the Montreal studio will also act as a publisher in North America. They are already working on two: Jo-Mei’s Sea of Solitude: The Director’s Cut, and Red Thread Games’ Dustborn.
No matter the game, David Cage wants to assure fans of their creative ambitions: “Each game has its own language, its own voice, and repeating things that worked in the past is not necessarily a good recipe to move forward.”
Detroit: Become Human is Quantic Dream’s latest game, and is available on PlayStation 4 and PC. Others include Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain, and Indigo Prophecy. You can find out more about the new studio here.
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