David Cage
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David De Gruttola (born June 9, 1969), known by his pseudonym David Cage, is a French
video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the rules and content of video games in the Video game development#Pre-production, pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the Video game development ...
, writer and musician. He is the founder of the game development studio
Quantic Dream Quantic Dream SA is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1997, the company has developed five video games: '' The Nomad Soul'' (1999), ''Fahrenheit'' (2005), '' Heavy Rain'' (2010), '' Beyond: Two Souls'' (201 ...
. Cage wrote and directed '' Heavy Rain'', '' Beyond: Two Souls'', and '' Detroit: Become Human''.


Biography

Born in
Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
, France, Cage is the head of the game developer studio
Quantic Dream Quantic Dream SA is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1997, the company has developed five video games: '' The Nomad Soul'' (1999), ''Fahrenheit'' (2005), '' Heavy Rain'' (2010), '' Beyond: Two Souls'' (201 ...
. Cage plays a central role in the company and the development of the games, being founder, co-CEO (with Guillaume de Fondaumière),
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
, lead game designer, and screenwriter. As a professional musician, he created the company ''Totem Interactive'' in 1993, which worked in music and sound productions. He worked as a freelance musician on several television, film and video game projects, involved with original soundtrack work. His earlier works include working on the music for
Cryo Interactive Cryo Interactive Entertainment was a French video game developer, video game development and video game publisher, publishing company founded in 1990, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo. The company gai ...
video games ''Super Dany'' (1994, credited as David De Gruttola), '' Cheese Cat-Astrophe Starring Speedy Gonzales'' (1995, credited as David De Gruttola), ''
Timecop ''Timecop'' is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and co-written by Mike Richardson (publisher), Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden. Richardson also served as executive producer. The film is based on ''Timecop ( ...
'' (1995), and ''
Hardline In politics, hardline or hard-line is an adjective describing a stance on an issue that is inflexible and not subject to compromise. A hardliner is a person holding such views. The stance is usually far from the centrist view. People, policies, ...
'' (1996). David Cage left ''Totem Interactive'' and founded ''Quantic Dream'' in 1997. He has written and directed all five games released by the studio: '' Omikron: The Nomad Soul'' (1999), '' Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy'' (2005), '' Heavy Rain'' (2010), '' Beyond: Two Souls'' (2013) and '' Detroit: Become Human'' (2018). At the
British Academy Games Awards The BAFTA Games Awards or British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honouring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive En ...
, in which Quantic Dream won three awards for ''Heavy Rain'', Cage stated that "games always explore the same things. They're about being powerful, being the good guys against the bad guys – that's a very tiny part of what can be done. There are so many other stories to tell, so many other emotions to trigger – this is a fantastic new medium, we can do much more than we currently do with it." Game developer
Warren Spector Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...
described Cage as one of the best storytellers in the business, calling him a genius. Cage has been critical of "
game over "Game over" is a message in video games which informs the player that their play session has ended, usually because the player has reached a loss condition. It also sometimes appears at the successful completion of a session, especially in ga ...
" events in story-driven, non-action video games, calling them "a failure of the game design". Cage was the first game developer to receive the
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
, the highest decoration granted in France. In October 2018, he received a Ping Honor Award for his career. In 2018,
Quantic Dream Quantic Dream SA is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1997, the company has developed five video games: '' The Nomad Soul'' (1999), ''Fahrenheit'' (2005), '' Heavy Rain'' (2010), '' Beyond: Two Souls'' (201 ...
was involved in a lawsuit with
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
and
Mediapart ''Mediapart'' () is an independent nonprofit French Investigative journalism, investigative online newspaper created in 2008 by Edwy Plenel, former editor-in-chief of . It is published in French language, French, English language, English, and ...
, accusing the studio of fostering a toxic workplace, after it was found that one of the employees had been photoshopping pictures of other employees. In April 2021, Quantic Dream won an appeal overturning a July 2018 ruling in favour of a former employee who sued the studio. It was later alleged that Cage said that all the female characters in his games were "whores" and that Quantic Dream "didn't make games for fags". Cage denied these allegations by saying "I have never said or even thought such things. I fully understand people were shocked by seeing those words, and I am deeply sorry for the pain and confusion they have caused to women and the LGBTQIA+ community. The quotes are abhorrent, and they do not reflect my views, nor the views of anyone at Quantic Dream." Representatives of LGBTQ+ employees at the studio defended Cage, stating that deeply hurtful and misleading perceptions "do not reflect
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
everyday lives at work".


Credits

;Director and writer * '' Omikron: The Nomad Soul'' (1999) * ''
Fahrenheit The Fahrenheit scale () is a scale of temperature, temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the German-Polish physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736). It uses the degree Fahrenheit (symbol: °F) as the unit. Several accou ...
'' (2005) * '' Heavy Rain: The Casting'' (2006; demo) * '' Heavy Rain'' (2010) * '' Heavy Rain: Chronicle One - The Taxidermist'' (2010; DLC) * '' Kara'' (2012; demo) * '' The Dark Sorcerer'' (2013; demo) * '' Beyond: Two Souls'' (2013) * '' Detroit: Become Human'' (2018) ;Composer * ''Super Dany'' (1994) * '' Cheese Cat-Astrophe Starring Speedy Gonzales'' (1995) * ''
Timecop ''Timecop'' is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Peter Hyams and co-written by Mike Richardson (publisher), Mike Richardson and Mark Verheiden. Richardson also served as executive producer. The film is based on ''Timecop ( ...
'' (1995) * ''
Hardline In politics, hardline or hard-line is an adjective describing a stance on an issue that is inflexible and not subject to compromise. A hardliner is a person holding such views. The stance is usually far from the centrist view. People, policies, ...
'' (1996) * '' Detroit: Become Human'' (2018, opening sequence)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cage, David 1969 births French atheists French composers French video game designers Living people Musicians from Mulhouse Video game directors Video game writers Quantic Dream