Former Quantic Dream Dev Opens a New Game Studio

Former developers at Quantic Dream, the studio behind Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and the upcoming Detroit: Become Human, have announced the creation of a new game studio called Interior Night.

Interior Night will be headed by Caroline Marchal, who was the lead game designer for Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. At the new studio, Marchal will serve as the creative director and will be expanding its team to roughly 20 employees over the course of the next year. In a discussion with GamesIndustry.biz, she explains the small team will be capped at 20 in order to “keep the studio lean and agile.”

As for its content, Interior Night will be focusing on creating narrative experiences that are accessible for everyone. Marchal says the studio’s games will be appealing to people who love AMC’s Breaking Bad or FX’s Fargo- people who may not necessarily play video games (though I’m willing to bet plenty of these fans do play video games), but who still recognize and have a great appreciation for strong characters, storylines, and character development. When talking about players’ engagement with games, Marchal had this to say:

Video games engage their audience in a different and sometimes super personal way. This presents opportunities to address complex topics like real-world issues differently. In the right context, this can be truly empowering and insightful for the audience.

Marchal is bringing a wealth of experience to this new studio, and though she has worked on popular, AAA games during her 11-year career at Quantic Dream, Interior Night will be exploring significantly smaller projects that have a “shorter development duration”. Interior Night has already opened its doors, and is based in White City, London. This new formation of Interior Night only adds to the rapidly growing landscape of game development across the the U.K.