Detroit: Become Human Director on Being Respectful to Real Cities in Games

Detroit: Become Human was announced last year, and we finally saw gameplay footage of the narrative-driven game at Sony's E3 press conference. Game director David Cage stopped by GameSpot's live E3 stage show and talked to us about what developers must do if they use real-world cities in their games and why he chose Detroit.

Cage said setting a game in a real city is "a very sensitive thing" and that it was important to him and his team that it was done "in a very respectful way."

"[Detroit] has its own history; there are people living there. They love their city," he said. "You need to pay attention to that and be respectful and not just use what you want to use for a game."

Cage credited that history as what made him fall in love with Detroit and choose it as the setting for Become Human.

"It was an industrial giant in the 20th century and then it went through very hard times," Cage explained. "And now it's trying to be reborn again somehow. ... This idea of being very high and losing everything and coming back is so strong and it's such a human story.

Cage also mentioned its history of racial issues, in addition to Motown and "all the great artists" that contribute to the city's culture. However, Cage said you can't write about a city without going there. He noted that you could research it on the Internet and find pictures on Google, but you don't "feel the place, you don't know the people" that way.

"We visited the abandoned factories, the abandoned churches that everybody knows," Cage said. "But at the same time we saw some wonderful things, we met some incredible people. The Fox Theatre, for example, in Detroit is one of the most amazing places I've seen.

"The people there are full of energy and they're struggling and they're fighting, but they're revitalizing this city in a very interesting way. And all this combined, we came back from Detroit, thinking, 'Yeah, this is the place where we want this story to happen.'"

Detroit: Become Human releases exclusively for the PS4, but its release date has not been announced.

You can see all the Sony E3 news here or check out some of the surprises from its press conference through the links below.

• God of War - E3 2016 Gameplay Demo
• Horizon: Zero Dawn's E3 2016 Demo Shows Off Gorgeous Setting and New Abilities
• Kojima Reveals New PS4 Project, Death Stranding
• Resident Evil 7 Announed, Watch First Trailer
• New Spider-Man Game for PS4, Watch First Trailer
• Days Gone - E3 2016 Gameplay Demo

Head over to GameSpot's E3 hub to stay up to date with all of the news and impressions from the event.