Detroit: Become Human dev Quantic Dream goes full indie

Quantic Dream, the French developer best known for Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human, has announced its next big step in the video games industry.

Celebrating 23 years in the business, Quantic Dream will now self-publish its own titles. This news comes just weeks (or possibly days) before the speculated reveal events for both Microsoft’s Xbox One Series X and Sony’s PlayStation 5.

Although described as a “transformation” for the studio, Quantic Dream promises to remain true to its roots. Given its penchant for cinematic, interactive story-telling, we can likely expect QD’s next project to be more of the same, building on previous games.

Here’s how the official blog describes the benefits of this transition:

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.

Previously, Quantic Dream had been linked to Sony with 2010’s Heavy Rain being a PlayStation exclusive at the time. This was followed by 2013 supernatural thriller, Beyond: Two Souls – another exclusive featuring Hollywood talent such as Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe.

Its most recent game, Detroit: Become Human, built upon that same choice-driven adventure game template. Reviews were mostly positive (we scored it a mighty 9/10) and despite some criticism over how it handled certain storylines it became a big success for Quantic Dream, garnering a sizeable fanbase.

Last year marked another turning for Quantic Dream with Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human going multi-platform. All three of them are currently available via the Epic Games Store.

Source: Quantic Dream Blog