Quantic Dream‘s joint CEOs David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière have successfully sued French newspaper Le Monde for libel following the publication of an article containing allegations of a toxic work environment. According to a report by French union Solidaires Informatique, as translated by Eurogamer, Le Monde lost the case because they were unable to prove some of the allegations without revealing the identity of their anonymous sources.
While the pair won their case against Le Monde as individuals, a similar libel case against another newspaper, Mediapart, was unsuccessful. Interestingly, Quantic Dream tried to sue both newspapers as a company too, but both of these libel cases were also unsuccessful. This means the court felt the allegations printed by both papers against Quantic Dream could be proven, as could Mediapart’s allegations against David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière.
The story began in 2018 when the two newspapers, alongside a third outlet Canard PC, printed stories about a toxic work environment at Quantic Dream. The studio was accused of sexual harassment and other misconduct towards their employees. David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière were singled out for demanding exceptionally long hours from his employees, as well as inappropriate remarks that included homophobic and racist jokes. Cage denied the allegations in a tone-deaf statement, while Quantic Dream also denied everything, calling the articles a “smear campaign.”
The libel cases began shortly after. Despite the company’s denials, Paris Council launched their own investigation into the “toxic corporate culture of Quantic Dream” and the company’s public funding. Game Workers Unite teamed up with Solidaires Informatique to investigate the claims of sexual harassment. The developer then lost an employment case against a former employee who had quit the company after offensive Photoshopped images of employees were circulated amongst Quantic Dream’s employees. A labor tribunal also found them guilty of not fulfilling security obligations towards employees by failing to address the toxic work environment allegations.
Quantic Dream did have some success defending itself, though. The developer then claimed the majority of the ex-employees’ requests in the labor tribunal were denied and later accused French websites of personal bias in their reporting of the case. Earlier this year, the Paris Court of Appeals dismissed more claims against the company from another former employee. With allegations and complaints of defamation still being thrown around—not only at the company but across the wider video games industry—it’s unlikely this will be the last we hear of the situation.
[Source: Solidaires Informatique via Eurogamer]
