Quantic Dream, the developer behind titles such as Detroit: Become Human and Heavy Rain, has lost a court case against a former employee who resigned from the studio due to an unhealthy work environment.
The ex-employee who brought Quantic Dream to court details they resigned due to offensive photoshopped images of employees being circulated throughout the studio. These images included staff members being photoshopped onto Nazi soldiers and nude pornstars. According to the ex-employee, these images were publicly displayed around the studio.
The court's decision is based around the prise d'acte employment law. Eurogamer contacted a French journalist who has knowledge about the law and they stated that law acts as "a notification of termination made by an employee who considered themselves a victim. By enacting this step, a worker forfeits their employment rights and salary, but can then petition for unfair dismissal."
Eurogamer discussed how an ex-employee can utilise this law within a court. "The process is used to expose failings in the workplace, and leaves the worker's case in the hands of an independent labour court which then decides whether the worker should be treated as if they were dismissed or resigned and whether they should receive settlement and unemployment rights."
Under this law, the ex-employee was able to convince the court that their resignation should be treated as an unfair dismissal. As a result, they are able to receive all of the rights associated with an unfair dismissal. Eurogamer states that Quantic Dream now has a right to appeal the court's decision, but no official statement has been made the developer about whether they will do so.
When the initial reports surfaced, Quantic Dream denied the allegations from former employees. "We categorically deny all of these allegations."
This is a major win for the ex-employee and puts Quantic Dream in a bad light. This is only exacerbated by Quantic Dream attempting to sue the French journalists who reported on the studio's toxic work environment.
Initial report by Eurogamer.
