Quantic Dream, who has been in the news for a possible toxic work environment, too, has finished its next game.

The developers announced on the PlayStation Blog that Detroit: Become Human‘s master disc is ready, which means it’s getting manufactured for the physical copies already. This achievement is the reason why there’s a demo on the PlayStation Store, which is already available by the time you read these words. It offers the game’s very first chapter, Hostage.

In the demo, you can also use Amazon Alexa in case you own one. If you ask the device, it can tell you information about the characters and their backstories, and it also offers help in achieving the alternate endings. What a clever way to promote this product…

Guillaume de Foundaumiere, Quantic Dream‘s co-CEO, said in the PlayStation Blog post that they worked on the game for four years (which means they started development on Detroit: Become Human shortly after releasing 2013’s Beyond: Two Souls on PlayStation 3), and he added that we would be „the writers” of the story of Kara, Connor, and Markus.

Adam Williams, the game’s lead writer, said on VG247 that in his former job as a TV writer, he had to write as a team, and the reason why he switched to Quantic Dream is because he got freedom here, and he’s capable of collaborating with the player this way. The fact that David Cage (Quantic Dream-founder, director of Detroit: Become Human) wanted the game to be the most interactive and malleable story yet, just added fuel to Williams’ fire, as he has had enough of the TV linearity.

„Although the game has this sci-fi conception of androids, we wanted a game that felt familiar and real to people and felt credible. That was an important design decision, I think because it makes the story more socially relevant. Instead of being of being escapism, it’s the opposite. Hopefully, it makes you think about the society we live in now, because the challenges that society faces are the challenges we face,” Williams said. He added that using androids helped him create a non-specific example of a dynamic that emerges in any society (between those who have power and those who don’t).

On MEGA, a leaked behind the scenes video emerged. In it, David Cage said that the shooting for Detroit: Become Human took almost two years for the over three hundred actors. The result is stunning: the game has over thirty-seven thousand (!) animations.

Quantic Dream isn’t letting media outlets get away with them bashing the dev team! Kotaku reports that they sued two French sites, namely Le Monde and Mediapart. A third one, Canard PC, might join them, but at this moment, they only received „threatening letters.” The two publications stand by their articles, and William Audureau, Le Monde’s journalist, said the following: „The story has been written sincerely, following a well-documented, thorough investigation, respectful of the principle that both sides must be heard. We stick with our information.”

The two sites, which are big fishes in the French media pond, now have to prove that they handled the Quantic Dream-story in good faith, although we have yet to see how David Cage‘s team can counter them. The case is far from over, but it’s likely that Quantic Dream is going to lose it. We’ll see – the first hearing will happen in June.

Detroit: Become Human launches on May 25, exclusively on PlayStation 4.

Source: PlayStation Blog, VG247, WCCFTech, Kotaku