Quantic Dream is one of the most unique studios on the planet. Not only do they only churn out a game on an average of once every four years (practically the complete opposite of Call of Duty), but the games they create are inventive and reach for places that very few developers are willing to go. As such, they don't follow the trends of most development studios, and a recent interview makes that even more apparent.
While speaking with GameTrailers, David Cage shared some insight on where Quantic Dream has gone since Heavy Rain released and where they are headed. He began by explaining how the company is nearly twice the size of what they were during Heavy Rain's development.
The studio has changed a lot after the success of Heavy Rain. We are now at around 180 people. We were at 110 maximum [for Heavy Rain].
So with that many people behind the scenes, you'd imagine that they'd make a bigger and better Heavy Rain with even more shower scenes. However, that's definitely not the case.
We certainly don't want to repeat ourselves, which is why we won't do Heavy Rain 2. We don't want to do the same game again.
Okay, well Heavy Rain was an awesome game raw with emotion. My dad used to always tell me, "If it isn't broken, don't fix it." Why not just stick to the same formula but use a new plotline?
We want to continue to explore and take risks and be ambitious for our titles and maybe fail, but maybe succeed and discover something.
This style of development is something that has stuck with Quantic Dream over the years, and it appears that success isn't going to change that. They've been working on a game for more than two years now and while they've been dead-quiet so far, it appears that it'll be something bold. However, David Cage has a Ph.D in emotion-driven games (okay, not really, but he should), and it'd be incredibly surprising if it doesn't have the same emphasis on story seen in his previous three games.
Quantic Dream also seem to have taken some hints from L.A. Noire, and their latest "Kara" trailer showed off some of the new technology they've employed including 28 additional motion cameras. This is a strong indication that realistic cutscene interaction will be at the forefront of their next game, which isn't much of a surprise, but is worrying for those of us who found L.A. Noire repetitive. L.A. Noire was a great game, don't get me wrong, but it relied too heavily on its cutscenes, and didn't lend us any real sense of choice.
A mixture between the realism of Rockstar's L.A. Noire and the branching paths of Heavy Rain along with some open-world elements thrown in for good measure sounds like a hit to me, and now that Quantic Dream has nearly 100 more employees, a game of that magnitude is a real possibility.
