Vancouver still Canada's No. 1 game design locale ... barely

By STEVE TILLEY

When it comes to bragging rights, Vancouver still holds the title of Canada's largest hub of video game development.

But not only is Montreal edging closer to matching Vancouver's tally of nearly 3,000 people working at game design studios, but some feel La Belle Province beats the Left Coast -- maybe even all of North America -- when it comes to quality over quantity.

"I wonder if there's a city other than Montreal that generates as many triple-A titles per year by different developers," said Stephane D'Astous, general manager of the soon-to-open Montreal branch of U.K.-based games giant Eidos Interactive.

Triple-A titles -- the gaming world's equivalent to Hollywood blockbusters -- pepper the catalogue of Ubisoft Montreal, whose Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell franchise has sold more than 17 million copies while being one of the most critically acclaimed series of the past five years.

Montreal-based Artificial Mind and Movement frequently works with animation giants like Disney and Dreamworks, and has produced more than 50 games based on movies and TV shows ranging from Monsters, Inc. to Kim Possible.

Eidos, which counts the popular Tomb Raider and Hitman games among its flagship franchises, won't yet reveal what game its Montreal studio will be working on first. But D'Astous said the first project will be part of a well-known and highly regarded existing series.

Source: Edmonton Sun

Hmm.. wonder what the game series could be....

Just For Blasts

Montreal now a major player in the game industry

By Steve Tilley

Sat, March 10, 2007

How does one say "joystick" in French?

Another huge player in the video games industry is scouting for digs in Montreal, thanks to a mix of economics, population and perks that makes the city nearly irresistible to companies that create digital diversions.

U.K.-based Eidos Interactive, makers of the Tomb Raider series of games starring chesty archeologist Lara Croft, are this week narrowing down their search for Montreal office space. After opening its doors this spring, Eidos Montreal plans to hire 110 people by year's end, then expand the size of the studio to 350 employees by the end of 2009, an investment totalling $50 million.

DESIGNERS IN DEMAND

They join three other major game development studios in the city -- Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and frequent Disney collaborator Artificial Mind and Movement -- creating a demand for talented video-game designers that may outstrip supply.

"We have excellent schools for programming," said Stephane D'Astous, general manager of Eidos Montreal. "The tricky part is the game designers and level designers. There are not a lot of schools in North America that have established programs for those people."

Alain Tascan, vice president and studio manager of Electronic Arts Montreal, agrees. "In the short term, it's going to be tough for talent," said Tascan, whose studio created the recently released Nintendo Wii snowboarding game SSX Blur and is finishing work on Army Of Two, a high-octane shooter designed to be played by two people co-operatively.

The announcement of Eidos' arrival in Montreal comes on the heels of Ubisoft Montreal unveiling an ambitious six-year, $451-million expansion to its operations. The plan will see Ubisoft's ranks in Quebec swell from 1,600 employees to 3,000 by the end of 2013, with 500 of those new jobs earmarked for a recently created in-house animation studio.

"We're going to take the next few years to learn how to make movies," said Ubisoft Montreal communications director Cedric Orvoine, adding that his company is now scouting for script writers, cinematographers and other traditional film-based occupations.

ASSASSIN'S CREED

The studio's first project will be an eight-minute CGI film based on the upcoming Assassin's Creed video game, due to be released later this year. Orvoine said the Ubisoft studio will also gear up for the future generation of video gaming -- the PlayStation 4 and the successor to the Xbox 360 -- when real-time video game graphics are nearly indistinguishable from today's pre-rendered CGI.

The game company executives say Montreal's established roots in digital animation software development and the early presence of Ubisoft helped lay the foundation for the current growth spurt, fueled by a low cost of living, the presence of several major universities nearby and the Quebec government's salary subsidies to game companies.

Although there have been some claims of game companies in Montreal trying to poach talented staff from each other, the studios say the competition is now friendly, not cutthroat.

"We're all in the same aquarium, and we neeed to respect the ecosystem," said Eidos's D'Astous. "If you want to do harm, or if there's bad blood, you won't last too long."

Source: Edmonton Sun

Edited March 15, 200719 yr by Trinity34