Ubisoft is surely the biggest developer with a studio in Canada -- its Montral division has been heading up the revived Prince of Persia franchise for years now, for one example -- and it looks like it just got a little bigger with the addition of a fourth facility based Toronto, Ontario, the country's largest city. Operations for Ubisoft Toronto will begin late this year.
Premier Dalton McGuinty stated in a press conference today, “Our world is one where you can borrow capital, you can copy technology and you can buy natural resources. But to build a high wage and a high standard of living you need talent. By investing in Ubisoft, we’re building Ontario’s economy now and for the future.”
800 jobs are expected to be created over the next 10 years as a result of the new venture, thanks in part to the government of Ontario, which is investing $263 million in it over the same period; Ubisoft's own investment will be over half a billion dollars (CAD).
“Today’s announcement marks a strategic move for Ubisoft as we continue to expand our internal development force,” said Yves Guillemot, president and chief executive officer at Ubisoft. “We are in an excellent position to grow and after extensive analysis we are thrilled to have reached an agreement with the government of Ontario to found our new studio in Toronto. The city is one of North America’s economic and cultural epicenters and our expectations are high. We’re excited to be able to count on the exceptional local talent, who will contribute to our accelerated growth and will have a profound impact the video game industry with the excellence of their creativity.
The new outfit will be overseen by Yannis Mallat, CEO at Ubisoft Montral; it's said the new team will be working on Triple-A games and collaborating with Toronto's finest film veterans to "enhance video game production and extend Ubisoft’s convergence strategy", the latter pertaining to planned efforts in the realms of books, comics, short films and other such things.
