Star Wars Eclipse, a new game set during the High Republic era, was announced at the Game Awards last year. The game itself sounds intriguing, but the studio behind it has been the subject of several controversies over the years. In fact, there was a protest immediately following the reveal of the game. Studio founder David Cage has denied the issues responsible for the protest, and he recently doubled down on that position.
Cage discusses the work culture at Quantic Dream in the latest issue of Edge Magazine (via Eurogamer). “Like any human organization, we are not perfect by any means,” Cage said. “But are we the kind of studio that was described? Our employees have said repeatedly: it’s not true. But we had to do something about what was being said. We were so hurt by specific allegations that we know are wrong or false, that we had to defend ourselves.” This is a similar response to what has been given in the past.
Accusations of toxic workplace culture and bigotry have been levied at the studio, prompting a blog post with a promise to create the “safest environment” for employees. Notably, it didn’t address any specific accusations and instead listed some ways in which Quantic Dream was trying to better itself. In his latest statement, Cage repeats the same talking points while denying the accusations. “Half of our managers are women,” he continues. “We have had LGBT employees present at all levels of the studio since day one. We have a high retention rate in an industry where turnover is the rule. Time after time, in anonymous third party surveys, employees state that they prize the atmosphere in the studio, the fact that it’s a warm, friendly place to work.” His words stand in contrast to what outsiders have said and continue to say about the way Quantic Dream operates.
In fact, these controversies have led to reports of the studio facing hiring troubles. As such, it was reported that Star Wars Eclipse wouldn’t even be released until 2027 at the earliest. Keeping in line with its other responses, the studio denied rumors about a delay.
