A couple of contrasting bits of news coming out of the whirlwind that is Detroit: Become Human: a demo is out now and developer Quantic Dream is suing a couple of French publications.

First up, the demo. It includes the first scene of the game, called Hostage, and is available to download from the PlayStation Store now.

Now onto this legal action. Detroit developer David Cage told Kotaku that Quantic Dream is suing journalists, which Kotaku confirmed relates to lawsuits aimed at French newspaper Le Monde and French website Mediapart over articles that reported a troubling company culture at the Paris studio.

The original allegations, which appeared in Le Monde, Mediapart and Canard PC after a joint investigation, accused Quantic Dream leaders David Cage and Guillaume de Fondaumière of inappropriate behaviour, overworking staff and colluding in - or at least turning a blind eye to - a schoolboy culture involving sexist and racist jokes.

Shortly after the reports surfaced, Quantic Dream released its first official response on Twitter, stating "We categorically deny all of these allegations", and insisting: "We value every single person who works at Quantic Dream. It is of utmost important to us that we maintain a safe environment that allows us all to channel our shared passion for making video games."

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David Cage, for his part, responded directly to Le Monde's allegations, and was quoted within the publication's initial story. "You want to talk about homophobia?" he said. "I work with Ellen Page, who fights for LGBT rights. You want to talk about racism? I work with Jesse Williams, who fights for civil rights in the USA... Judge me by my work."

Quantic Dream later went on to claim it "has been the subject of a veritable smear campaign by a few media outlets, based on slanderous remarks whose reliability and origin of the sources raise questions".

Le Monde and Mediapart now have to convince a judge they reported the story in "good faith" and with fairness, which means showing evidence that they offered, for example, a right to reply.

The first court hearing is scheduled for June, a month after Detroit comes out on 25th May.