Quantic Dream Sues French Media Over Negative Reporting

William Audureau, who published his piece to Mediapart and Canard PC, confirmed that he is preparing paperwork to fight the developer’s suit. Despite the suit, Audureau sticks by his reporting. “The story has been written sincerely, following a well-documented, thorough investigation, respectful of the principle that both sides must be heard,” Audureau told Kotaku.

Canard PC stands as the only outlet not included in the lawsuit, though it received “threatening” letters from Quantic Dream both before and after the report’s publication.

Now, both Le Monde and Mediapart must prove that they exhibited fairness and “good faith” in their handling of the story. According to Canard PC’s Ivan Gaudé, the publications will have to show the judge that they reached out to all parties involved, offered those parties’ perspectives, and used “the appropriate caution” in their reporting.

The lawsuits are an unprecedented move by the studio, but there should be little surprise that Cage and company would go so far to protect their studio’s image. After all, Cage’s defense against the claims in January was problematic. “You want to talk about homophobia? I work with Ellen Page, who fights for LGBT rights. You want to talk about racism? I work with Jesse Williams, who fights for civil rights in the USA … Judge me by my work,” he said.