Quantic Dream‘s next game is accused of child abuse.

During Paris Games Week, we saw a short trailer with Kara, who was trying to protect a little girl from her father. Damian Collins, a Conservative MP, as well as a chairperson of the Cultural, Media, and Sport Select Committee, told The Daily Mail the following: „It is completely wrong for domestic violence to be part of a video game regardless of what the motivation is. Domestic violence is not a game, and this simply trivializes it.” He added that he dislikes how players have the opportunity to fight back, which could be fuel to the fire in real life situations.

Esther Rantzen, the founder of the phone-counseling charity Childline, also said her opinion: „We never want anyone to believe that beating a child to death with a belt is the stuff of entertainment. It should never be trivialized or turned into a game. I call upon Sony Interactive Entertainment to think again and withdraw this game, or at least remove this scene where a virtual child is put in life-threatening danger. If you don’t, real children may suffer.”

David Cage, the founder of Quantic Dream, also chimed in during his interview with Eurogamer: „For me, it’s a very strong and moving scene, and I was interested to put the player in the position of this woman. I chose her point of view. If I’d have chosen the point of view of the man it could have been a different story and with totally different emotions. There’s a context in the story; there’s a reason for that – where she comes from and where she’s going to go. What’s important to me, and what’s important in Detroit is to say that a game is as legitimate as a film or a book or play to explore any topic such as domestic abuse.”

The story is far from over. Detroit: Become Human will launch exclusively on PlayStation 4 in (early?) 2018.

Source: The Daily Mail, Eurogamer