The studio behind Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human is facing another serious controversy, as France’s video game workers’ union, the STJV, claims that Quantic Dream is not only misleading people over its layoff plan, but also violating labor law. According to the union, the fallout from Spellcasters Chronicles is now exposing deeper problems around the troubled development of Star Wars Eclipse.
Quantic Dream has not been making headlines for its games lately. The studio behind Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human announced that it would shut down the servers for Spellcasters Chronicles, after the live-service title failed to build a real audience. That was already a major setback, but the story did not end there: the decision was followed by a new layoff plan affecting nearly 100 developers, a move that France’s video game workers’ union, the Syndicat des Travailleureuses du Jeu Vidéo, or STJV, has sharply criticized from the start.
The organization argues that the studio’s leadership ignored the warning signs that had already suggested serious trouble around Spellcasters Chronicles. The STJV has now returned with another statement targeting the company, accusing Quantic Dream of “lying” while limiting negotiations between employee representatives and management. The situation is especially sensitive because, according to the union, the production of Star Wars Eclipse is not exactly moving through calm and orderly waters either.
The Union Says a Brutal Redundancy Plan Is Being Forced Through
In its latest statement, the STJV says the work of the employee representative body, the CSE, has been severely restricted, further fueling suspicions that studio management is not preparing for proper negotiations over acceptable conditions for those affected. The union’s wording is blunt: “What they are trying to force through is a brutal redundancy plan,” the statement reads. “We fear the terrible consequences this plan could have for the company, and especially for the workers, if it were to be implemented.”
One of the key points of criticism is that the CSE’s access to the studio’s internal mailing lists has allegedly been revoked. According to the STJV, this goes against established usage rules and prevents the employee representatives from properly communicating with staff. The dispute is made even more serious by the numbers behind the layoff plan: the union says the issue is not the elimination of 95 jobs, but 115.
That difference is not a minor administrative detail. The STJV stresses that once the number of layoffs exceeds 100, the CSE consultation period should last three months under French rules, not two. According to the organization, Quantic Dream management has not explained how or why it is imposing a two-month deadline on the procedure, something the union considers a potential violation of the law.
The Wall Between Spellcasters Chronicles and Star Wars Eclipse
The STJV’s other major accusation concerns the handling of professional categories. Under the French legal framework, redundancy plans of this kind cannot simply select employees by project team; workers must be assessed through professional categories, using specific criteria to determine who may be laid off. The union argues that Quantic Dream is completely distorting that concept, because the proposal essentially targets the Spellcasters Chronicles team while leaving the developers on Star Wars Eclipse untouched.
The studio is reportedly defending itself by arguing that the tools used for each project are different, and that employees working on Spellcasters Chronicles would need more than six months of training before being reassigned to Star Wars Eclipse, and vice versa. The STJV considers that argument untenable. “This is absolutely ridiculous. But, if we take it seriously, it means the company is admitting to violating French labor laws. Indeed, employers in France have an obligation to maintain the skills of their workers in their field, including at other companies, through ongoing training. And Quantic Dream is explicitly stating that it failed to meet this obligation.”
The union is now pushing for several measures: restoring the CSE’s access to internal mailing lists, applying a three-month legal consultation period, reassigning Spellcasters Chronicles employees to Star Wars Eclipse, and even reorganizing the team’s creative direction. According to the STJV, by pretending that it can simply lay off the Spellcasters Chronicles team, management is “lying and trying to divide the workers.”
The harshest part of the statement, however, concerns the state of Star Wars Eclipse itself. The union says that no matter how the redundancy plan is resolved, the game’s production will be affected. It also claims that voices from all levels of the hierarchy are already denouncing the “hell” surrounding the project. That leaves Quantic Dream not only cleaning up the remains of a failed live-service experiment, but also facing a growing cloud of doubt around one of the most anticipated Star Wars games in development.
Source: 3DJuegos
