Indeed, most of the company's life revolves around the game maker [David Cage], who is a majority shareholder (he owns more than 60% of the capital) and who, as the main author, takes the big decisions regarding their games. Many former employees describe David Cage as inhabited by his projects, to the point that he sometimes forgets the human beings working around him. "To him, people are just tools, not individuals, and their talent is not regarded as a benefit. This is exhausting. They [the QD employees] are depressed", says Elise [they changed the names of some speakers]. The word "tyrannic" comes up often when describing his professional behavior, and just as often opposed to his open and friendly character whenever the topic is not video game creation.
Obviously this portrayal doesn't please the one concerned. "If I wanted to work like that, I could: I'm a majority shareholder in this company, I'm the president, I've directed games for twenty years, the publishers we are working with are there because they are interested in my work. But it's ridiculous. I'm working with a group of people of all origins, and the team takes collegiate decisions. Intellectually speaking, I cannot take hundreds of decisions alone", he insists. He, however, admits taking "strategic decisions, directions" on his own: "If there are things to do or not do in the game, it's my role, my responsibility to say it."
Staff representatives agree with their CEO: "We can confirm the fact that the company works according to the direction given by David Cage. But it would be false to say that managers or leads have no decision-making power, if only in terms of recruitment, where David Cage almost never steps in, unless for specific directing or artistic positions. He is not in charge of human management within the services", they explain.
It is, however, hard to deny that not everyone can work with him. When development started on the Detroit game, in 2012 and 2013, his company hired several "stars" from the industry, some of them from other countries. It didn't work out. "These people, these major leads... It couldn't work", an employee recalls. "For David, it's impossible to work with people with a strong personality. He absolutely needs to be in control." The memory of the turbulent, short-lived presence of one veteran director left traces: "It ended badly because this director knew what he wanted, and he was experienced in motion capture. And we had the feeling that David had his baby taken away from him. He rejected a lot of things." The director didn't stay, and he wasn't the only one.