Quantic Dream wants Epic Games store to ‘become a cloud gaming platform’

Quantic Dream CEO David Cage believes “cloud play is going to be the next revolution in gaming”.

While acknowledging there are hurdles to overcome before the whole industry “can migrate to cloud play”, Cage said he envisions a future where cloud gaming is dominant and claimed there would be multiple benefits for developers and consumers.

Earlier this year Quantic Dream released Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls on PC via the Epic Games store, while Detroit: Become Human will arrive on the platform this fall, and Cage said he hopes Epic will consider turning its storefront into a cloud gaming platform.

“I hope that they will consider becoming a cloud play platform,” he told DualShockers. “Cloud play is going to be the next revolution in gaming, and I hope it will be a competitive landscape.

“Games are going to look stunning no matter what screen you play on, and developers will only have to focus on one platform, which means that dev money will go into quality instead of compatibility.”

Cage added: “Of course, there are many obstacles along the way before all this becomes a reality, and technology may not be the most challenging one. Business model and revenue sharing are still major questions to answer before the entire industry can migrate to cloud play.”

Microsoft will launch a preview version of its Project xCloud streaming service in October, while Google Stadia will launch in November with over 30 games available to purchase on day one, and Cage sees exclusive content as the key to success for new gaming platforms.

“Google Stadia is an interesting attempt at breaking this new ground,” he said. “They definitely have the resources and technology to make it happen, but like their competitors, they will need to convince developers and publishers to make their platform unique. Content is king: the platform with the most exclusive content will win.”

Prior to releasing for PC via the Epic Games store, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls were only available on PlayStation platforms due to an exclusive working relationship between Quantic Dream and Sony which ended in January 2019 after more than a decade.

Moving forward, Cage also told DualShockers the studio’s targeting multiplatform product releases.

“Quantic Dream is not exclusive to any platform anymore,” he said. “So yes, unless there are some specific exclusivity deals on a title-by-title basis, all our games will be released on all platforms at launch.”

Cage recently said he thinks improvements in lighting technology rather than increased resolutions are going to be key to boosting realism in games on new platforms over the coming years.