Q: Given what you were saying a moment ago about writing in gaming, would you ever consider handing over that responsibility to someone else? Would you trust another writer to handle the script for a Quantic Dream project? The games you've worked on so far feel very personal.
DC: Yeah, these games are very personal. Since Heavy Rain, I write a lot about me and my experience, my life. I don't know if that makes for better stories, but I feel I'm being more sincere, more true to what I want to say and what I want to write.
I'm in a very special position at Quantic Dream, because I'm the CEO of the company and I'm the writer. So it's easier for me to trust myself as a writer, because there's no other option, but also it puts some pressure on everything, because I play with the life or death of the studio with each idea I have. When you come to shows like this you come with a lot of confidence, and you want to show people how passionate and excited you are. And I am, but actually this is very scary. I mean, what if I'm totally wrong with Beyond and no-one likes it, the story's crap and its wrongly directed and I've done everything wrong? It's something terrible for the studio. My studio has been there for 15 years, and I've bet everything, again, on the fact that Beyond is going to work in my favour this time. So that's a lot of pressure, and it's easier for me to take this pressure if I feel I'm in control of the story, because then if it fails, it's my personal failure. It's easier to accept than if it's someone else's failure.
But to answer your question, the evolution of the format, the evolution of the studio, requires that more people become capable of writing this kind of stuff. I'm very interested in what's going on with TV series, where's the showrunner and a team of writers, writing in the same direction. And this is actually what I'm building at our studio right now.
Q: You're moving towards a TV-like setup?
DC: Yeah, where I could continue to have the vision and the ideas - I have ideas for the next four or five games. This is what I love and I really enjoy but at the same time, instead of me spending a year away from the studio writing the damn thing, I could work for the team - people who could be more talented than I am, and bring in new ideas that I've not thought of - and work together in creating this thing. So, we're starting on this right now.
