subject to social security collection via URSSAF. Cage and de Fondaumière denied the reports. In February 2018, the studio called the charges a smear campaign in an official statement. They levied lawsuits against Le Monde and Mediapart in April 2018, while Canard PC received two "threatening letters". Several employees who had left or been terminated filed suit against Quantic Dream. That July, Quantic Dream lost a court case against one of the employees who left due to the hostile workplace culture. The employee sought to reclassify their resignation as a wrongful termination under the French employment law of prise d'acte. This case was later overturned; the Court of Appeal of Paris explained that none of the specific photos depicting this particular employee were degrading and therefore did not qualify for wrongful termination under prise d'acte. In a separate case brought by another former employee, the Parisian employment tribunal found for the employee, stating that the studio had allowed the "homophobic, misogynistic, racist, or even deeply vulgar" dissemination of the photos to continue in the workplace, and further ordered Quantic Dream to pay in addition to a fee in December 2019 after finding that the company "[remained] passive in the face of this practice more than questionable, which can not be justified by the 'humorous' spirit of which the company avails itself, the employer has committed a breach of the obligation of security". Other cases remain pending. The trials against news outlets Le Monde and Mediapart were held in May 2021. The verdict was given on 9 September 2021. In a personal libel suit brought by Cage and de Fondaumière, accusations against Le Monde were recognised by the court, as Le Monde refused to disclose the identity of the anonymous sources it had used and thus had failed to meet the burden of proof. The court ruled in favor of Mediapart in the personal suit, dismissing charges related to three of seven passages in their report about Quantic Dream, while stating that the other four were made in "good faith" as they had "a sufficient factual basis" as to not qualify for libel. Separate cases filed against Le Monde and Mediapart on behalf of Quantic Dream as a company also found in favor of the defendants, clearing them of the libel charges. Games Developed Published References External links Companies based in Paris French companies established in 1997 Video game companies established