David Cage is a man with strong opinions. Some of them are good, others—especially those pertaining to the use of cinema in games—aren't as well-received as the former.
Today, the creator of games like Heavy Rain and Fahrenheit spoke up on the maturation of the indie game development scene, which he says mainstream developers could very much learn from. He referred to the indie developers as "pioneers", a title once bestowed upon the progenitors of modern gaming like Peter Molyneux and John Romero.
“The answer to the industry’s problems could very well come from the indie space,” Cage said in his interview with GameSpot AU. “I know that. Indie game development is exciting, interesting, and risky. Independent game developers are pioneers, and we’re in desperate need of pioneers. When you look at cinema, you can see the same thing; it was really the underground filmmakers that brought about the revolution and broke free of what the big studios were doing. Maybe this is what needs to happen in the games industry.”
Cage spent much of the interview explaining how he had no desire to copy cinema or turn games into interactive films, but rather learn from how filmmakers created their art.
"When I talk so much about film, people get really upset because they think I'm talking about making interactive cinema. They say, 'We want to make games, pure games!' But how many mediums were created from scratch? How many art forms were created the same way as ours? We should listen and learn from anyone who has anything meaningful to say and to show."
David Cage is currently working on Beyond: Two Souls for the PlayStation 3.