Quantic Dream

I would say that the impact that the recession had, that the most important impact especially on AAA games on console, was the rise of second hand gaming. And I think this is one of the number one problems right now in the industry. I can take just one example of Heavy Rain. We basically sold to date approximately two million units, we know from the trophy system that probably more than three million people bought this game and played it. On my small level it's a million people playing my game without giving me one cent. And my calculation is, as Quantic Dream, I lost between €5 and €10 million worth of royalties because of second hand gaming.

Now I know the arguments, you know, without second hand gaming people will buy probably less games because they buy certain games full price, and then they trade them in etc etc. Well I'm not so sure this is the right approach and I think that developers and certainly publishers and distributors should sit together and try to find a way to address this. Because we're basically all shooting ourselves in the foot here. Because when developers and publishers alike are going to to see that they can't make a living out of producing games that are sold through retail channels, because of second hand gaming, they will simply stop making these games. And we'll all, one say to the other, simply go online and to direct distribution. So I don't think that in the long run this is a good thing for retail distribution either.

Now are games too expensive? I've always said that games are probably too expensive so there's probably a right level here to find, and we need to discuss this altogether and try to find a way to I would say reconcile consumer expectations, retail expectations but also the expectations of the publisher and the developers to make this business a worthwhile business.

At Quantic Dream, we lost between €5 and €10 million worth of royalties because of second hand gaming

I don't have the exact figures here with me, there's been quite some studios done on the demographics on Heavy Rain, but in essence what I can tell you is that we have not been surprised in a way, because right from the beginning we knew that we wanted a game that would both appeal to gamers, because we knew it was important to have this audience on board, but also potentially could appeal to those who were either casual gamers or partners of, people sitting next to core gamers.

Pretty much everyone I meet tells me exactly what you just told me, "I started playing with my girlfriend, and she at one point grabbed the controller." I don't think we are at the point, and it has little to do with Heavy Rain, but more with the industry as a whole, we're still not at a point where, especially women, go to the shop and buy this kind of experiences.

They do buy games, you know the female audience is growing, but they don't buy these kind of games. But with Heavy Rain I think we showed that once it's in the household, and once women see what the experience is and they're drawn into it and they take the controller, I think that it's a positive thing that could potentially broaden our audience in the future.

Now there must be more games like this, because a lot of people tell me that the next thing their girlfriend or wife told them is "OK, what do we play next?" And then they turned around and said "in the same genre?" "Yes." And that's it. And so I really hope, because to really make it a market and to really make a segment on its own we need more games like this.

Uncharted is a good example. There's Heavy Rain, there's Uncharted, but there are not so many games in that vein. Tomb Raider next year is probably really looking great and it's probably also going to be one of these games that could potentially appeal both to gamers and to a larger audience and in particular women.