Video game publisher Behavior Interactif will formalize the opening of a new studio in Toronto on Monday which, hopes its CEO, Rémi Racine, will help it attract Canadian and American professionals who will help it continue to grow. of its business activities.
“We have adopted a growth strategy for which we will need more resources,” explains Mr. Racine in an interview with the To have to. “We already had about 50 employees in Ontario who wanted to work from an office, but this pied-à-terre also gives us a good reason to get better known and increase our hiring there. »
Behavior already has 900 workers in Quebec. The company hopes to employ a hundred people in the Queen City in the short term. The publisher is careful not to quantify the cost of this expansion west of the Ottawa River, but plans in the longer term to employ 300 people in Ontario, thanks among other things to a tax credit more generous than that of Quebec.
“It’s a matter of a few percentage points”, illustrates the big boss of the Montreal publisher. Provincial credits in Ontario would cover the equivalent of 40% of video game workers’ wages; the Quebec credit program is 37.5% of salary.
Operation seduction
Ontario has been carrying out a major seduction operation in the video game sector for several years. The largest Canadian province is currently home to some 298 companies specializing in this sector, which represents a larger share than that of Quebec, according to the Canadian Entertainment Software Association. Quebec remains the Canadian industry leader in terms of the number of employees and the economic weight of its video game companies.
The opening of a second address in Canada by Behavior is not directly attributable to provincial credits, nuance Rémi Racine. Rather, it is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, he says. “We’ve been hiring in Ontario for a long time. Employees told us that they wanted to return to live there. At the same time, we hope to be able to bring Canadian professionals back to Canada who have gone to work in the United States. »
We’ve been hiring in Ontario for a long time. Employees told us that they wanted to return to live there. At the same time, we hope to be able to bring Canadian professionals back to Canada who have gone to work in the United States.
This new studio will have no particular mandate, except that of continuing to touch on just about everything that is done at Behaviour. The company creates its own games, but it also acts as a supplier for other companies, most of which are also established in video games. Earlier this winter, Mr. Racine indicated that he wanted to develop the niche of fun activities for human resources in business, a niche that is currently experiencing strong growth.
Moreover, in addition to this new studio, Behavior Interactif is preparing strategic acquisitions over the coming months to help sustain this growth.