David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière, the bosses of Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream, have successfully sued French newspaper Le Monde for libel, after the outlet printed alleged claims by studio members of a toxic work environment.
A report by Solidaires Informatique, translated by Eurogamer, states Le Monde’s case had been weakened as it was unable to prove certain elements of its reporting without divulging the anonymity of its sources.
Neither party has commented publicly on the judgement, and there’s no word yet on any terms.
Mediapart, another French outlet sued by Quantic Dream for its reporting on the allegations, was completely cleared. Separate libel cases by Quantic Dream as a company against Le Monde and Mediapart also both failed.
Back in May this year, Solidaires Informatique reported on various elements of the trial itself, some of which were independently verified by GamesIndustry.biz. At one point, GI.biz reported Quantic Dream’s lawyers accused a journalist of writing their article detailing workplace conditions “as revenge for [co-CEO] Guillaume de Fondaumière refusing them access to the VIP section of a Quantic Dream party”.