ComputerMKII
Banned
An interview with David Cage was published (in French) on November 18 at Le Nouvel Observateur's website, so I've taken the liberty to translate it (please report mistakes if you find any!)
DAVID CAGE: "THE FUTURE OF VIDEO GAMES IS IN THE INDIES' HANDS"
"Today, creativity emerges from the indie side" says the CEO of French studio Quantic Dream.
71,2% of French people play video games, says a study by the National Center of Cinematography and the moving image (CNC), with a revenue of €2.7 billion. In total, in France, 5,000 people work in this sector, which faces exodus of talent to foreign countries, especially Canada.
"Video games are the world's first cultural industry and France must hold its own, said Frédérique Bredin, President of the CNC, during a roundtable on Tuesday, November 18.
In order to deal with the issue, David Cage, founder and head of Montreuil-based studio Quantic Dream, confides having "immense faith in independent creators, particularly the young French school graduates." One year after shipping "Beyond: Two Souls", a video game starring actors Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, David Cage shares his view on the video game industry, particularly on the French side. Interview.
With a yearly revenue of €2.7 billion and 34 million gamers in France, how do you see today's video game market?
- Video games are going through a rather fascinating period. It's becoming more diverse, more democratic, more and more people play different games on different platforms. The release of the Wii and -today- smartphones and tablets make games more accessible to a much broader audience, while the audience of hardcore gamers on consoles and PC keeps getting larger. The market will keep getting more diverse thanks to systems like Oculus Rift or Morpheus, which allow for complete immersion in a 3D world.
Today you can play games for any price, with extremely abundant free titles, games that cost a few euros, up to more complex, €70 games. The market is still heavily dominated by action games and so-called "casual" games (editor's note: games like "Candy Crush") even though some titles show that games can also be poetic, moving, or have a real intention.
After eighteen years with Quantic Dream, how has the industry evolved, in your eyes?
- Video games have gone from a craft to a more industrial phase. Today, most teams are structured, organized, managed, and the big holiday-season blockbusters need up to 1,000 people, spread across the whole world...
"One may regret the era when making games was primarily about passion, when you locked yourself up for months in order to create a game, eating nothing but pizzas... But it's a necessary evolution. You can become more professional yet retain the passion."
You can also see small, independent teams go back to the roots of games created in a garage, making smartphone or tablet experiences.
Yet, one year ago, you criticized the lack of diversity in games where "we keep shooting on anything that moves".
- A lot of people in or out of the industry regularly complain about how concepts go around in circles and are very much based on violence, but there is a very large audience for those games. Today, creativity mostly emerges from the independent devs. These creators have less financial pressure and can afford to take risks, which is impossible for games with a $100 million budget.
"The future of the industry is in the hands of independent creators. We're going to see a lot of exciting concepts from them."
"Minecraft" is the perfect example of a company that started in a garage before selling for $2.5 billion (editor's note: to Microsoft) But "Minecraft" wouldn't have existed unless someone thought "I'm gonna make this crazy idea come true". Today, creation is in the hands of indies, which is also the case in cinema. On one side you have blockbusters and there's independent films on the other side. Cinema needs both in order to live and I think it's the same with video games.
How do you see the future of video games?
- It's very difficult to anticipate because the industry changes very quickly. The future of video games will be multifaceted. There will always be games for the hardcore gamers who see games as a skill-based sport, or as a way to compete with their friends. Video games as a mere "hobby", like many titles for smartphones or tablets, will keep having success with a broader audience.
On which side do you see yourself?
- We try to develop a middle way, with games that try to tell a story, to carry meaning and where violence isn't the core activity. Most of all, we try to create an emotion, to make players live something strong and unique, which remains an ambitious challenge in a video game.
Your latest title, "Beyond: Two Souls", has sometimes drawn fierce criticism.
- "Beyond" was a very polarizing game, particularly for hardcore gamers, who felt troubled in their habits by the very unusual experience that the game offered. However, a lot of players have greatly supported the game. Personally, I was very glad to see how a lot of players felt personally moved by "Beyond".
"The game has been out for a year and I still receive letters from players who tell me how much the game touched them."
I try to create different and atypical experiences, even if it means questioning the traditional rules of video games. I create ouf of passion, with a desire to explore new ways, which is impossible if you only seek consensus.
You're attached to interactive narration. Don't you feel that narration in games is becoming more and more influenced by TV series, with a level/episode structure?
- It's true that there are a lot of similarities between games and series. We tell stories that are 8-10 hours long, which takes us closer, in terms of format, to series rather than films. However, there may be similarities but there are also differences. Video games are still in their infancy, in regards to how you tell an interactive story.
"By the way, a lot of video games are based on similar themes, whereas series tackle much deeper subjects, echoing society itself."
I hope video games can follow the same path in the future and dares dealing with different themes. Interactivity is an extraordinary media to carry meaning, because the player is also an actor, not a mere spectator, which allows for a very particular kind of emotional involvement.
Among those new themes, could video games break free from the clichés they remain associated with, such as the latest controversy about sexism?
- In every community there is a small minority of extremists. They often tend to make a lot of noise even though they represent a small minority. Some people uttered unacceptable things about women but they're not representative of the gaming community. By the way, one should note that the community itself reacted strongly against those words.
Video games are becoming more feminine, more responsible, and evolve. We also start seeing more interesting female characters in video games, even though there's still much left to do in this matter.
The president of the French National Union for Video Games (SNJV), Nicolas Gaume, said the French video game sector was facing a crisis, as the number of employes got divided by two in 10 years, while revenue got up by 280%. Should we be worried for video games "made in France"?
- Yes, we should be worried. Countries such as Canada have been making significant financial effort to attract high-tech companies for over 10 years. As a result, a lot of companies have moved abroad and look for French talent.
"Today, companies like Ubisoft are primarily based in Canada, and a lot of small-scale French developers struggle to invest and offer new products."
France offers excellent training, artistically as well as technically, but it suffers from a certain amount of administrative and fiscal red tape. Doing business isn't the easiest thing to do when you live in France... Obviously, this general situation applies to video games as well.
Fortunately a certain number of things have been done to develop the video game industry in France (Editor's note: For instance Jack Lang's "plan Image" in 1982). It's enabled the French video game industry to remain to this day, and enabled French companies like Quantic Dream to compete with multinational companies.
But there's still a lot left to do to allow French companies to compete on an equal footing with its competitors, particularly from America and Canada. It's even more of a pity considering video games are an extraordinary source of jobs for the youth and offers interesting careers in an expanding sector. France must keep making efforts to maintain and develop the sector in the coming years.
A video game creator told me it was easier for him to hire someone from Indonesia than getting an intern. Should public authorities play a more important role to support French creation?
- The problem is much more complex than simply hiring an Asian worker who's one third as cheap as a French one. People don't do the same work, they don't have the same skill, they don't have the same expertise. Quantic Dream also has a lot of production work done in Asia, where part of our games' graphics get made, but we also have 200 people in Paris because that's where we can find a skilled and talented workforce.
Quantic Dream has been hiring for 18 years. In France, there are people who have been perfectly trained at schools such as Les Gobelins, Supinfogame, Supinfocom, ENJMIN and many others. Like all companies, we embrace globalization but we want to keep believing it's possible to do business in France while recruiting and training more young people.
"Public authorities have an essential role to play, not by issuing handouts or advantages but by allowing French companies to fight on an equal footing with foreign companies on a global market."
What is Quantic Dream's next game?
- We're working on something very exciting but I can't say more about it. We try to create different things, which get off the beaten track, always with the same passion.
