David Cage: “Sony Never Asked for Heavy Rain 2”

A lot of publishers get a bad rap for constantly recycling the same game again and again (some rightfully so). Then again, in today’s blockbuster-dominated generation, publishers need to do everything necessary to stay in business.

And then there’s Sony who put “no constraint in anything”, according to David Cage of Quantic Dream, who worked on the successful Heavy Rain and is now busy with the hotly-anticipated Beyond: Two Souls.

In an interview with Gamasutra, who asked how much freedom Sony gave him pursuing his vision, Cage responded, “Total freedom. Total freedom. No constraint in anything. Many publishers, after the success of Heavy Rain, would have said, ‘Well, you need to do Heavy Rain 2. And do what you want, but it’s going to be called Heavy Rain 2.’

“And we never had this conversation with Sony. They just asked me, ‘What’s next? What do you want to do?’ ‘Well, I have this idea, what do you think?’ ‘Yeah. It looks great!'”

Such an opportunity doesn’t come easy in the industry, for sure, especially the higher one goes. And while Sony may offer a few pointers here and there, it’s all down to Cage and his team in the end.

“I think the real value of this type of experience is that they are true and they are sincere. It’s really a story that I needed to tell, and Sony gave me the opportunity to do it. Which is quite unique. It’s really incredible in this industry to have the possibility to work like that.”

And Beyond: Two Souls will hopefully be such an experience when it releases for PS3.