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Quantic Dream, the studio behind the narrative-focused Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human, may be working on a new Star Wars game. A trio of sources have reported that the studio has done a deal with Disney for a game that might already be well into development, and Quantic Dream itself dropped a cryptic hint about it too.
The rumor first surfaced last week when French YouTuber Gautoz (via VGC) claimed that Quantic Dream “will be signing with Disney” now that its Sony contract is over. “It looks like they will be working on a Star Wars game,” Gautoz said.
Shortly after that, noted secrets-leaker Tom Henderson, who last week claimed that next year’s Call of Duty game will be Modern Warfare 2, said on DualShockers that he had been told the same thing by a separate source “who provided overwhelming evidence that he had contacts at Quantic Dream.” According to Henderson, the game has been in development for about 18 months. Quantic Dream also apparently “liked” Henderson’s tweet about the story, although it has since unliked it. Make of that what you will.
Finally, Kotaku says today that it too has heard the same story, from a separate source of its own, who also indicated that Quantic Dream has been working on it for about 18 months. Kotaku’s source said the new project, unlike the studio’s previous releases, is a more conventional action game, possibly in an open world setting and with multiplayer components.
Some job openings on Quantic Dream’s website point in a similar direction: The studio is hiring for roles including competitive senior game designer, who among other things must have “prior experience in managing a meta-database in LiveOps,” and senior game economy designer, with “a sensibility to game design combined with an outstanding knowledge of all key elements that allow the game to work as a service and thrive financially.” A senior level designer listing calls for experience working on an “open environment game and/or a multiplayer game.”
None of that (or any of the other listings I’ve looked at) mention Star Wars specifically, but they definitely point away from Quantic Dream’s usual interactive dramas. Its games aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, but they are consistent: From The Nomad Soul to Detroit: Become Human, they’re linear. narrative-heavy (and heavy-handed) adventures built on, as Andy Kelly put it a couple years ago, “lavish production values, QTEs, wild tonal inconsistency, overwrought drama, gratuitous shower scenes, and SWAT teams.” That’s not the sort of thing that calls for a games-as-a-service designer or open-world experience.
It’s odd to me that Quantic Dream would take on such a different style of game for its big Star Wars debut, especially since Ubisoft is already working on an open-world Star Wars game—but of course, all of this is entirely unconfirmed, and may ultimately prove mistaken in the details or entirely inaccurate. With similar reports coming from three separate sources, though, I’m inclined to give it some weight: I’m not expecting an open-world action game a la Destiny 2, but at this point I’ll be a little surprised if Quantic Dream isn’t working on a Star Wars something. I’ve reached out to the studio for more information and will update if I receive a reply.
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