Ubisoft continues to bet big on Quebec. After making Montreal its largest studio in the world since 1997, the French company announced the opening by next March of a studio in Sherbrooke, which will accommodate 250 employees by 2030.
And this is just one part of Ubisoft’s investments in the province, which will amount to 950 million in the next decade and will allow a hundred hires per year, said at a press conference Tuesday in Sherbrooke. Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot.
“I have always been deeply convinced of the fabulous potential of this province, a context favorable to risk taking, a breeding ground for talent, without forgetting the communicative energy of Quebecers”, declared the CEO.
AAA and convergence
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UBISOFT
Nathalie Jasmin, the new director of the Ubisfot Sherbrooke studio
In Sherbrooke, we expect to hire 80 video game professionals in just about all trades within the next three years. Ultimately, in 2030, it should have 250 employees. The studio, headed by senior producer Nathalie Jasmin, who worked ten years at Behavior Interactive and then ten years at Ubisoft Montreal, will take care of the company’s most important franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, far cry, Watch Dogs and Rainbow 6 Siege.
Sherbrooke will also have the mandate to help Mr.me Jasmin called “the group’s convergence strategy”, focusing in particular on online services and the development of production tools.
This is Ubisoft’s fourth video game creation studio in Quebec. After Montreal in 1997, branches were opened in Quebec in 2005 and in Saguenay in 2018. In addition, the French company acquired in 2008 the special effects studio Hybride, based in Piedmont. Of the 20,000 Ubisoft employees in 35 studios around the world, 5,000 are in Quebec, it was said at the press conference.
Urban and nature beat
For Sherbrooke as for other Quebec studios, “the future of work at Ubisoft will be hybrid, flexible and plural”, announced Mr. Guillemot, while employees “will choose to work from home, studio or a space for collaboration ”. We have not yet identified the premises where the Sherbrooke office will be installed. “We are going to want to look for a place that will appeal to the talents with whom we are going to work, where they can go out for lunch to go to small restaurants, go for a drink after work and do some shopping in the neighborhood”, summarized Mme Jasmine.
We chose Sherbrooke in particular for “its mix between the urban beat and the proximity to nature,” she explained in response to a journalist’s question, as well as for the importance of its university and research programs. , as well as the dynamism of its entrepreneurs.
Ubisoft has also announced a targeted investment program of 17 million dedicated to training young people, supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. An accelerator for independent video game companies will also be launched in 2022.