New Montreal video game studio shoots for top talent
Last Updated: Friday, February 16, 2007 | 11:56 AM ET
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The video game company that created gun-toting, buxom archaeologist Lara Croft, played by Angelina Jolie in the Tomb Raider movies, is launching a $50 million, 350-person studio in Montreal.
Eidos Interactive, Ltd., a division of SCi Entertainment Group PLC, plans to open the new studio early in the spring, with the investment and hiring to occur over three years, Eidos Montreal's general manager Stéphane D’Astous told CBC News Online Thursday.
Eidos Interactive Ltd., publisher of the Tomb Raider series of games that feature brainy and beautiful archaeologist Lara Croft, plans to launch its 350-person, $50-million studio in Montreal this spring.
(Eidos Interactive)
Eidos plans to open the studio, which will work exclusively on high-end games for the latest generation of video game consoles, early in the spring.
The company is not disclosing any details about the games the new Montreal studio will be working on, other than to say they will only be for Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii consoles, D'Astous said.
"My first priority is to find a great office space and the other priority is to start recruitment intensively," D'Astous said. "Montreal's where things are happening right now — the industry's growing, great schools, major studios are here."
He said Eidos plans to have a 70-person game-development team in place by the end of the year, with a second team of equal size slated to be staffed by the end of 2008 and a third one for 2009.
The studio will also hire a quality-assurance team to test video games, starting with 30 people and growing to 100 people over the three-year period.
The rest of the staff will be administrative.
The company will receive a 37.5 per cent salary subsidy from the Quebec government for programmers, designers and other staff who work directly on video games, similar to other firms in the city, such as French firm Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. and industry giant Electronic Arts Inc.
On Feb. 9, Ubisoft announced it plans to expand its 1,600-person operation in Montreal to 3,000 with a $451 million investment over the next six years. Ubisoft is currently the largest video game-industry employer in Montreal.
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