Everything We Know About The 'Star Wars: Eclipse' Controversy
Content Warning: Homophobia, Harassment, Assault
I shouldn't have to point out that this has been a rough year for the video game community, especially for its marginalized members. In light of countless allegations and lawsuits leveled at major game companies including Rockstar Games, Riot Games, Naughty Dog, CD Projekt Red, and most notably Activision and Ubisoft, we've been seeing many calls to action from gaming fans and media alike for the game industry to address and fix its toxic, bigoted work culture that has sadly been a large part of it for decades. Among the companies called out for their systemic mistreatment of employees is Quantic Dream, the developer of titles such as Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human. The company has especially been in the limelight as of late due to the announcement of Star Wars: Eclipse.
The first rumors of Eclipse came out a few weeks prior to the debut of 2021's Video Game Awards show hosted by Geoff Keighley. Sure enough, when the awards show aired on December 10, viewers were treated to a cinematic trailer for the aforementioned Eclipse, to be developed by Quantic Dream in partnership with Lucasfilm Games. The trailer showed off all of the typical imagery one would expect from a Star Wars game, while also revealing the game's setting during the franchise's acclaimed High Republic era. While the initial wave of excitement from Star Wars fans has not completely disappeared, it has undoubtedly been tempered by a growing controversy surrounding the game's developer.
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It began in January of 2018 when French media outlets Le Monde, Mediapart and Canard PC published a report about Quantic Dream. In this report, former and current employees accused the developer of toxic work culture and conditions. Among the many allegations were extreme crunch, undue firings, and a slew of misogynistic, racist and homophobic behavior from the company's higher ups. Many of the allegations were specifically directed towards the studio founder David Cage and executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumière, who have both been accused by multiple employees of tolerating and engaging in bigoted and inappropriate behavior.
One specific allegation describes an incident in which altered images of Quantic Dream's employees were printed out and displayed throughout the company's offices. These photos had actually come from a cache of 600 images, all of which were claimed to portray the company's staff in misogynistic and homophobic ways, such as one staff member being photoshopped as a male stripper holding a sex toy and a power tool. The rest of the allegations include Cage making a racist comment after viewing footage of a burglary and de Fondaumière forcing himself on staff members at company social events. These controversies continue into this very year, as one ex-employee won an unfair dismissal case against Quantic Dream in October, in light of an undue firing when the former employee reported further abuse at the company.
These ongoing allegations against Quantic Dream and its toxic work culture have led to many Star Wars fans on social media, most especially LGBT fans, criticizing Lucasfilm Games' decision to partner with the company in the first place. Many LGBT fans have especially taken issue with Quantic Dream being given a game set in the High Republic era, due to how well the era has handled LGBT representation thus far. Calls for Lucasfilm to address these criticisms have only grown louder over the past week, with notable news sites such as Gizmodo and Distractify publishing articles about the fandom's requests for Lucasfilm to do better by its LGBT audiences.
Personally, my hope is that Lucasfilm Games will simply give Eclipse to another developer. Though this would take a lot of work, the game still seems to be fairly early on in development and many of its assets could potentially be given to a different studio such as Aspyr or Respawn Entertainment, both of which have proven themselves to be not only competent, but exceptional with the Star Wars license. As of now, Quantic Dream is still facing many allegations of abuse and misconduct and both its current and former employees have still yet to be fully compensated for their experiences with the company. Until we see substantial changes being made to Quantic Dream's toxic work culture, I believe it would be in Lucasfilm Games' best interest to part ways with the developer for now and find a new partner that can help Eclipse rise to its fullest potential.
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Source(s): Polygon, PlayStation LifeStyle, Gizmodo