General Dameron

Gamekult, a French media, met today with developers at Quantic Dream during a strike and published an article on the challenges faced during the development of Star Wars: Eclipse as well as on Quantic Dream’s overall situation following their recent live-service failure: https://www.gamekult.com/actualite/a-quantic-dream-la-greve-pour-sauver-star-wars-eclipse-3050870937.html

here is a summary of the key points:

the introduction of the article:

At Quantic Dream, the situation is dire, and so a strike is underway: following the failure of the multiplayer game *Spellcasters Chronicles*, management is reportedly considering laying off the entire team—115 people—while its long-delayed *Star Wars Eclipse* is dying a slow death due to a lack of resources, vision, and progress. To fight these layoffs, the STJV union has called for a nationwide mobilization and set up a picket line this morning outside Quantic Dream’s Paris headquarters. And for good reason: today is the day the Lucasfilm delegation is scheduled to review the progress of *Star Wars Eclipse*. Tense atmosphere. This French blockbuster could very well fall apart and drag the entire company into the abyss, according to the protesting employees. We visited the picket line to gather their testimonies.

Spellcasters Chronicles was in development for 8 YEARS and had 115 devs working on it (for the record, the game peaked at 888 players and shut down after a few weeks in Early Access)

This is the largest round of layoffs for a French studio since Blizzard France in 2019

Devs from Star Wars Eclipse team claim they are severely understaffed and that these 115 employees are “absolutely essential” to even hope to release the game, which led to a strike.

Quantic Dream’s leadership hopes that “the developers’ passion and crunch” will allow them to complete the game despite the labor shortage.

Quantic Dream implemented overtime for Star Wars Eclipse just a few hours after announcing the layoffs

These layoffs are not the result of Netease's orders , which, for now, despite having shut down numerous projects these last months, has remained on the sidelines regarding what is happening at Quantic Dream and has not exerted any pressure on them so far.

The developers want to meet with Netease executives to pressure Quantic Dream into retaining its 115 employees, but Quantic Dream’s management is doing everything it can to prevent its employees from speaking directly with Netease, despite the fact they using Netease to put pressure on their employees on a daily basis

The lack of communication around Star Wars: Eclipse since the reveal in 2021 stems from multiple delays and massive disorganization within the company

The protest is scheduled for today because a delegation from Lucasfilm was due to visit Quantic Dream’s offices to check on the progress on the game ; the goal is to send a strong message to Lucasfilm. One striker states: “We believe that, as things stand, the game simply cannot be completed if the layoff plan is implemented as currently proposed.”

A developer explains the working conditions:

"Here, it’s a top-down culture. All decisions are made at the top. You don’t get a say. This then leads to a lot of menial work for everyone, and very often. Either because management doesn’t take the time to review your work and then tells you, after a month, that your deliverables don’t match their vision—even though they never asked you for anything in the first place—or because they’ve changed their minds (even if they’ll claim otherwise),”

“On the one hand, they tell you that you’re more than just a follower and that you have the leeway to make decisions, but on the other hand, they make it clear that you’re really just a follower because any decision that goes against management will be vetoed. It’s extremely hard to deal with on a daily basis because you never know where you stand. You’re working for nothing. It’s humiliating.”

Other devs from fellow french studios (Amplitude, Gameloft, Ubisoft ou Don't Nod) have come forward to show their support for their colleagues in the face of the policies implemented by David Cage and his inner circle.

David Cage and Quantic Dream’s management are using the fact that canceling the game could lead to the studio’s bankruptcy to pressure the developers into returning to work

Negotiations are now set to resume with Quantic Dream’s management. According to the STJV representative at Don’t Nod, two paths are possible: a rejection of the layoff plan by French authorities (since, according to the union, the plan is clearly illegal), followed by new negotiations and thus several more months lost in this battle; or the signing of a majority agreement with the union to limit the damage and, with fewer employees, hopefully see the development of Star Wars: Eclipse through to completion and save the company from a very painful cancellation.