Heavy Rain Developer Aims to Tackle Online Next

The PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain has managed to crack the top 10 in the U.S. and reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. During GDC last week, IndustryGamers had the pleasure of meeting up with Quantic Dream founder David Cage to talk about the developer's goal in creating an interactive story-driven game like Heavy Rain, the impact of motion controls, and what's next for the studio. Interestingly, Cage said he now has his eyes fixed on the online multiplayer space and he hopes to have an impact on online gaming similar to the impact he had on single-player gaming with Heavy Rain. Check out the full Q&A below.

IndustryGamers: So now that the game's been on the market for a little bit, what's your reaction to how it's been received? It seems like one of those polarizing titles because some people just can't get into it and says it's nothing more than an interactive movie while others love the emotionally driven narrative. So what is your take on the reactions and has the game exceeded expectations?

David Cage: It's way above my expectations in my craziest dreams, to be honest with you. We thought the feedback would be very polarized until the game was released, but now that it's been released we see that out of 373 reviews the game has an average of 9 out of 10. So it's actually not polarized at all. What is very interesting also is that the mainstream press reacted very positively to it; these people usually only talk about games because of violence or addiction issues or whatever. But they talked about it because it was very new, really original and innovative. Most of all, it's gamers who know whether it's interesting or not, and the game really exceeded any expectations during the first two weeks. It's sold out in many countries and the sales definitely exceeded what we expected. The word of mouth seems to be incredibly positive about the game, when reading reviews and talking to gamers. Sony did some investigations about satisfaction ratio and it's between 90 to 95 percent. So it's polarized between the people who played it and didn't play it, because for those who played it's really, really positive.

IG: Do you feel like this is the direction the games industry needs to take, with a gripping storyline and more emotional connections to characters? Is this where you see the medium of games going as it continues to evolve?

DC: I don't think that all video games should be what Heavy Rain is. We need to continue to make games based on violence and action and explosions, because there's a market for that. And we need to continue to make games for kids and teenagers because, again, they buy games and it's only fair that we create games for them. At the same time, I think we should create games for a mature audience, for people who are older and are not interested in killing monsters in corridors. These people are looking for something else, something with more emotion and more meaning. This is what we're trying to achieve with Heavy Rain. Many critics wrote that there will be a before and after Heavy Rain, and that's really what I hope – that it will open other doors for people to realize that you can create an original IP that is not in an established genre, take a lot of creative risks, and if you do it right, this is what the market wants because it can sell. 

IG: Right, it helps of course that you had great support on the new IP from Sony.

DC: Definitely.

IG: Switching gears for a minute, the big focus here from Sony of course is the new PlayStation Move motion controller. What is your thinking about that, and from your standpoint is that controller something you'd want to use in your future games?

DC: You know, the initial design of Heavy Rain was based on motion controls actually. That was four years ago before Sony had any concrete plans. So we imagined this interface where you would open a door by doing this move [Cage makes door pulling motion] and when you look at the final interface and the way the game plays in the end, there's still something there about this original version for the way we use the Sixaxis motion sensor, for example, or the way you unfold moves with the analog sticks, etc. So I'm really interested in all this motion controller talk; I'm curious to see if it's possible to use it to do something else than just casual or family entertainment. So maybe there's an opportunity, maybe not. I don't believe that every single game in the future is going to use motion controls, but I think it may be interesting to use it for certain experiences.

IG: In some ways Heavy Rain is a bit reminiscent of those old PC point-and-click adventure games. Did you play many of those? Were they an inspiration for Heavy Rain?

DC: I played a lot of adventure games but I honestly don't think of Heavy Rain as an adventure game, because adventure games when you analyze how they work, they are based on object management, puzzles, exploring and clicking on the right pixel. There's nothing like that in Heavy Rain. So it's true that adventure games are also story-driven experiences, but at the same time Heavy Rain is much more based on action and consequences, moral dilemma, how you can tell the story through your actions, how you can change the plot based on what you want to see and want to do. So I think it's a different type of experience.