Quantic Dream

Quantic Dream SA
Private
Industry Video game industry
Founded June 3, 1997 (1997-06-03)
Founder David Cage
Headquarters Paris, France
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Guillaume de Fondaumière (COO)
Products List of Quantic Dream games
Number of employees
 170
Website quanticdream.com

Quantic Dream SA is a French video game developer based in Paris, France, founded on 3 June 1997. The company also supplies motion capture services to the film and video game industries. They are well known for their interactive drama story based games such as Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy and Beyond: Two Souls.

History

Quantic Dream launched their first title Omikron: The Nomad Soul, in 1999 for PC and Dreamcast, which featured original music by musician David Bowie, who also provided the voice for the character Boz. In 2002, they began development of Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in North America), the first game to use their interactive cinema technology, which allows gamers to play through multiple worldlines based on the decisions made rather than a one-dimensional story.

Fahrenheit was generally well received, receiving multiple awards and nominations prior to its release, with high ratings from all major gaming publications.[1] In 2005, Quantic Dream's next announced titles were Heavy Rain and Omikron 2. Released in February 2010, Heavy Rain was well received and has sold over two million copies worldwide.[2]

Quantic Dream have helped pioneer the Interactive Drama genre, and places emphasis on storytelling, emotion and innovation.[3][4] Cage has stated, "We want to build on what we have discovered with Heavy Rain. We created the genre. We own the genre, and we want to show that Heavy Rain was not a coincidence or a lucky shot - that it was really something that makes sense and that we can build on."[5]

Although downloadable content (DLC) has been released for Heavy Rain, David Cage stated that he does not plan to release a Heavy Rain 2, saying that he would be "milking the franchise". On 1 June 2010, rumors speculated that Quantic Dream was starting to cast for a new science-fiction game entitled "Horizon".[6] Cage confirmed that these rumors were not true. Quantic Dream is working on two new projects for the future.[7] Cage confirmed that the next project will focus on emotions, not serial killers.[8] Quantic Dream also considered making a game based on war.[9]

"I don't know where this information comes from but there is no project called Horizon featuring a couple in a science-fiction world currently in development at Quantic Dream", studio head David Cage confirmed to Eurogamer. "Though if the script is available it sounds like a good idea".[10] "I hope this will inspire people – it should! I want competition in this field. I don't want to be alone on my flagship shouting, 'Hey! Emotional storytelling!' There should be more games trying this. But very few developers have the luxury of having a great publisher trusting them. We did an indie game with the financial support of a Triple A title. I don't see Heavy Rain as an achievement, I see it as a first step. I know we can do much better, we can go further. I know there are many people out there to convince. I mean, look at how many people played Heavy Rain in comparison to Call of Duty – we want as many players as that. And even that is nothing – look at how many people watched Avatar. That is where we want to go."

In March 2011, Quantic Dream stated that one of its new projects will be called Fiv5.[11] On 4 August 2011, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe filed a trademark for Infraworld, which was a project once in development at Quantic Dream, but was cancelled during the early stages of development. An easter egg inside of Heavy Rain showed a poster for Infraworld with Quantic Dream's logo at the bottom of the poster, which hints that Infraworld may be back in development and could be one of Quantic Dream's future projects. It is possible that due to the story content of Beyond: Two Souls could have been a completed version of Infraworld.

On 7 March 2012, Quantic Dream released a short film entitled "Kara", displaying their new game engine that uses new motion capture technology running on a PlayStation 3. The short, displayed in real time, revolves around a newly constructed Android named Kara (played by Valorie Curry) who presents a dilemma to her operator after discovering the ability to think.[12] Director David Cage revealed the short was made over a year before, when the engine was in its early build. The developer's untitled engine is still in development and its features have been increased by 50 percent.

Quantic Dream announced a new game on 4 June 2012 at E3, which was released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 on October 2013 called Beyond: Two Souls.

The Dark Sorcerer is a tech demo for the PlayStation 4 by Quantic Dream. Studio founder David Cage first displayed a portion of the demo during the February 2013 PlayStation Meeting.[13] The video showed a real-time 3D rendering of a human actor's face as he cycled through a series of emotions.[13] Cage presented the example to demonstrate how "PlayStation 4 game creators can now forget about technology limitations and focus on creating experiences never seen before" and added that the technology would be advanced further and featured in future Quantic Dream games.[13] A full 12-minute video of the "old man" was released during E3 2013.[14]

Despite the title, The Dark Sorcerer is a "Next-Gen Comedy", a departure from the developer's signature dark tone found in their previous titles. While the demo displays a dark fantasy setting, the tone is set when it reveals that it takes place on a film set where the "old man" attempts to get through a complicated take.

On 21 March 2013, they announced that they are working on a PlayStation 4 game.[15] At Sony's Paris Games Week press conference, this game was revealed to be titled Detroit: Become Human, and is based on their previous Kara tech demo.[16]

The Quantic Dream Collection, consisting of PlayStation 4-enhanced versions of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, was released on 1 March 2016.[17]

Games developed

Year Name Platform(s) Publisher(s)
1999 Omikron: The Nomad Soul Microsoft Windows, Dreamcast Eidos Interactive
2005 Fahrenheit Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox Atari, Inc.
2010 Heavy Rain PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 Sony Computer Entertainment
2013 Beyond: Two Souls PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 Sony Computer Entertainment
TBA Detroit: Become Human PlayStation 4 Sony Interactive Entertainment

References

  1. ↑ "Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy) ratings overview". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 January 2007.
  2. ↑ "Heavy Rain ratings overview". Metacritic. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  3. ↑ David Cage and The Future of Games: More Focus on Emotions, Less on Engines
  4. ↑ David Cage: The Industry Will Die if it Doesn't Innovate
  5. ↑ http://spong.com/article/24024/David-Cage-We-Own-The-Interactive-Story-Telling-Genre
  6. ↑ Garratt, Patrick (1 June 2010). "Source – David Cage casting for "Horizon"". VG247. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Moriarty, Colin (18 March 2011). "The Next Heavy Rain... But Not". IGN. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  8. ↑ Bailey, Kat (17 February 2010). "Next Quantic Dream Game Will Focus on Emotions, But Not Serial Killers". 1UP.com. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  9. ↑ Sharkey, Mike (4 March 2011). "Heavy Rain Creator Wants to Tackle the True Nature of War". GameSpy. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  10. ↑ Pigna, Kris (3 July 2010). "Quantic Dream Not Making 'Horizon," Focusing on New Tech". 1UP.com. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  11. ↑ Chapman, Peter (21 March 2011). "New Quantic Dream Game Clues". thesixthaxis. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  12. ↑ Robinson, Martin (7 March 2012). "Introducing Quantic Dream's Kara". Eurogamer. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  13. 1 2 3 Pitcher, Jenna (21 February 2013). "Quantic Dream demoes advanced emotional tech with PS4 and new engine". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  14. ↑ Funk, John (11 June 2013). "Watch all 12 minutes of Quantic Dream's PS4 tech demo 'The Dark Sorcerer'". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  15. ↑ Heavy Rain, Beyond Dev Working on PS4 Game – IGN
  16. ↑ "Heavy Rain Dev Announces Detroit: Become Human for Playstation 4". IGN. 27 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Saed, Sherif (1 March 2016). "Heavy Rain shows frame-rate, resolution and more improvements on PS4". VG247. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
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