All games are cultural expression, says Heavy Rain dev

Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream has weighed in on the "are games art?" discussion. Speaking during the Digital Dragons conference last week attended by Gamasutra, Quantic Dream co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere said games should be considered in the conversation just like other recognized forms of art.

"To me, all games are a form of cultural expression," de Fondaumiere said. "I see no reason why games should be treated differently than any type of literature or any type of movie. I think that more and more video games are becoming artful, and are becoming a form of art that should be recognized next to the others."

To back up his claim, de Fondaumiere pointed to the growing number of "authors" in the industry today, including Rayman creator Michel Ancel, Journey developer Jenova Chen, and others. At the end of the day, de Fondaumiere believes if games are widely recognized as art, the industry stands to grow.

"But does it really matter. Do we really care? Do we need to be formally recognized as art? I think it matters," he said. "I think this recognition also brings to a certain degree new business opportunities."

"Today I can say I'm a game producer. This sense of pride is important because we need to lure new people to this industry," he added. "I've been trying to work with Hollywood talent for years now, probably about 15 years. Up until recently, each time I was talking to agents or talents, they would say, 'We don't do games, sorry. You have to understand--violence, addiction--it's bad for our image.'"

Quantic Dream's next project, Beyond: Two Souls, launches October 8 exclusively for PlayStation 3.