Quantic Dream sues French media over toxic work condition reports

Detroit: Become Human studio Quantic Dream has sued French media organizations for their reporting on internal working conditions.

Earlier this year, three French news organizations published reports on toxic work conditions at game developer Quantic Dream, which included sexist and racist emails, overworking staff, and other inappropriate behavior. Quantic Dream categorically denied those allegations, but now the studio is going a step further by suing the companies behind these reports.

According to a new report from Kotaku, both the newspaper Le Monde and website Mediapart are facing legal action from Quantic Dream. As recently as last week, journalists behind these stories were defending their actions in court.

One of Kotaku's sources is apparently David Cage himself, who simply said "We're suing their journalists" during a Detroit: Become Human preview. Sony's PR representative immediately halted all questions after this statement.

The media outlets and journalists behind these stories are mostly quiet on the matter, since this is an ongoing lawsuit. Kotaku did obtain one brief statement from William Audureau, who published his Le Monde story alongside other articles on Mediapart and Canard PC.

"The story has been written sincerely, following a well-documented, thorough investigation, respectful of the principle that both sides must be heard," Audureau told Kotaku. "We stick with our information."

These reports were a collaborative effort between journalists from Le Monde, Mediapart, and Canard PC. Interestingly, Canard PC is not facing any legal action despite its part in the reports. Publishing director Ivan Gaudé told Kotaku that the company has received threatening letters from Quantic Dream, but no follow-up lawsuits.

We will update this story as it develops.