Biography

June 9, 1969

David De Gruttola

His stories often involve nature or the physical world affecting the characters within it.

Use of quick-time events and unusual control schemes meant to increase immersion

His stories often feature children in danger

Often depicts dysfunctional families; fathers tend to be abusive or ignorant, while mothers are meek or absent

Founded his video game company Quantic Dream with Guillaume de Fondaumiere in 1997.

Many people out there are not interested in games because games are always about the same things. They're about violent actions played in loops. But they're also about a very limited set of emotions. They're always about fear, anger, frustration, competition - adrenalin in general. These emotions trigger strong physical responses, but at the same time they're just a very limited part of what you can feel.

As a storyteller, I've always been fascinated with the idea of recreating this notion of choices in fiction. My dream was to put the audience in the shoes of the main protagonists, let them make their own decisions, and by doing so let them tell their own stories. Finding a way to achieve this is what I did in the past twenty years of my life.

[From his Keynote speech at D.I.C.E Summit 2013] I remember when I was a younger designer I pitched games to publishers, and I remember this famous meeting with an American publisher, and I was trying to explain what Indigo Prophecy was about. It was really about storytelling and emotional relationships and characters. And he asked me; So, what kind of weapons has the hero? I said, well, the hero doesn't have a weapon. So he seemed embarrassed and he said, oh, oh okay, I got it, so he drives cars? Mmm, no, he doesn't drive cars. He seemed embarrassed again, he said, oh , he jumps on platforms? No, he doesn't jump on platforms. And his reaction was, then it's not a game.