ubisoft.... EXPANDS

aesir · Jul 2009

http://kotaku.com/5308480/ubisoft-toronto-brings-800-jobs-to-ontario

"after three years of relentless pursuit, the government of Ontario has pledged $260 million in order to help Ubisoft create a new studio in Toronto, creating more than 800 new jobs in the process."

So yay. Not all bad news with studios closing. Rebound time!

PixelGoat · Jul 2009

800 people at one studio? wow thats big hehe.

almighty_gir · Jul 2009

creating 800 new jobs != 800 studio employees.

it'll probably be close to 600 during the building process, and then 200 for the studio.

Cudos though! awesome news indeed!

katzeimsack · Jul 2009

wtf? that'S $325000 per artist/coder/designer !
They should just give the money to the people directly .. how many new companies would get started..

JasonLavoie · Jul 2009

Ha ha, I've been hearing about this for so long, and now they are finally doing it, I'm actually really excited for this, Ontario is becoming a new hot spot for devs

edit: I do have a question though, how much of the talent will be from around Ontario, and how much will they be bringing over from other provinces / Montreal studio?

Either way this is huge though, very cool to see

sir-knight · Jul 2009

I wonder if they're building a whole building or just moving in somewhere... given that the 2 other offices have 2000 employees combined, I think 600-800 sounds about right

katzeimsack · Jul 2009

i jsut had to rethink this..

stupid politicians

a worker there gets maybe 50k average ..

so ubisoft can pay them FOR FREE FOR SIX FUCKING YEARS!

Neox · Jul 2009

they are possibly building a new office, i don't think all the money is going directly into the production, but anyways a hell lot of money

jocose · Jul 2009

I love Canada so much right now. Almost as much as this guy:

242638048_d3dec76278.jpg?v=0

Cojax · Jul 2009

wow 280 million from the government to make a new studio. Must be nice...

aesir · Jul 2009

seriously. They should have just given out 280 one million dollar grants to 280 new startups. Now THAT would be awesome.

JacqueChoi · Jul 2009

That's not as much as the half billion they got from the Canadian Government for their *ahem* "Cinematics Studio".

Makes me wonder what the government would be giving them if they were actually CANADIAN.

:O

killingpeople · Jul 2009

i don't see the benefit... why? what does canada gain from partnering with ubisoft?

JasonLavoie · Jul 2009

World domination KP...

World Domination!!!!

SyedS · Jul 2009

lol this is great for my city

Andreas · Jul 2009

aesir wrote: »

Rebound time!

Woohoo! Great news.

Hope it continues. 800 people, thats huge. Kind of a bold move to take so shortly after all this recent trouble...

Mark Dygert · Jul 2009

I always knew Canada had it right. US bails out failed automakers and investment firms that already milked their clients for millions, and probably still go belly up.

Canada on the other hand makes jobs and supports the future...

Please Canada invade already and bring us your healthcare and maple leaves.

Seriously tho, 800 jobs is a drop in the bucket, if they are factoring in construction then whats left is probably closer to 150-300 actual long term jobs.

HntrLuc · Jul 2009

well the article does say 800 over the course of ten years...

TWilson · Jul 2009

Onterrible.

had to be said... :P

I also don't understand why the Canadian government could benefit from such a transaction. Or why they've been paying 30% of their wages in Montreal Ubi. Honestly. Anyone have real information on this type of arrangement?

aesir · Jul 2009

canadian government benefits by bringing in new jobs, which stimulates local economy, which gets them better tax revenue.

rooster · Jul 2009

seems like a great example to follow for governments all over! except I'm in agreement with aesir, 280 1m, or 140 2m grants would have been more awesome.. think of what coolness would get produced with that scale of startup/indie development

bluekangaroo · Jul 2009

Just read about this over on yahoo ....right now as far as Im concerned any news of new jobs being created in the video game industry in Canada especially is great news to me!

DrillerKiller · Jul 2009

TWilson wrote: »

Onterrible.

had to be said... :P

I also don't understand why the Canadian government could benefit from such a transaction. Or why they've been paying 30% of their wages in Montreal Ubi. Honestly. Anyone have real information on this type of arrangement?

lol, all you westerners just cant stand Toronto eh.. just fooling. But this is great news for the (small) community here in Toronto.

Canadian Ink · Jul 2009

I feel bad for all the many small devs in Ontario who will probably loose all there talent all at once.

Frump · Jul 2009

It's too risky giving money to startups. They won't be creating many jobs, and there's no guarantee they will succeed, expand or even use the money wisely.

Anyway, this is good news.

I bet ubisoft used this graph to score this deal.

acc · Jul 2009

Uh guys, Canada does help out startups. See: Everyday Shooter by Jon Mak, or Fez by Phil Fish. I could probably get money from them too but I'm lazy and haven't actually needed it yet.

Canadian Ink · Jul 2009

acc wrote: »

Uh guys, Canada does help out startups. See: Everyday Shooter by Jon Mak, or Fez by Phil Fish. I could probably get money from them too but I'm lazy and haven't actually needed it yet.

I dont think there would be an industry out here in PEI and Newfoundland if there wasnt lots of Government $$$ being thrown around.

00Zero · Jul 2009

haha vig. at this point, i would welcome my canadian overlords. cmon hat, eat my head

Mezz · Jul 2009

Personally, I am VERY EXCITED about this.

Since I am still looking to break into the industry, and idealy don't want to leave Toronto... what the hell could be better than this news? I will be there beating on the door for a job asap.

And about some questions asked earlier:
Apparently the talent they're looking to hire is local as much as possible (since they say T.O.'s got lots of available talent... lol thank you for noticing!

)
Also, the 800 jobs is supposed to grow over the next decade and, by the sounds of it, be permanent jobs.
As for the building, one of the articles I read said it had apparently been secretly in development for 2 years now, so I guess they're customizing their own nice little building?

(Wonder if its gonna be in the Queen/Spadina area like everything else)
Another interesting point of note I saw is that the plan is to get started by later this year... woohoo!

I also think this is the needed push to finally make Ontario a real established place for video game development, something that was long overdo imo. So overall, I am EXCITED about the news. lol Yay Toronto!

kwakkie · Jul 2009

Wow thats a great boost for the game industry! I really like Ubisoft(as a company), an example to other game studios/publishers! Would have like to see some part of that bag-o-money to go to smaller studios/indies though!

carlo_c · Jul 2009

Frump wrote: »

I bet ubisoft used this graph to score this deal.

That actually made me lol.

Thats great news for the game industry and any of you guys around there looking for a job. Nice one ubisoft!

Super · Jul 2009

Fuck man. When do we get Ubisoft London?

sir-knight · Jul 2009

Canadian Ink wrote: »

I feel bad for all the many small devs in Ontario who will probably loose all there talent all at once.

I doubt there will be that big of a ripple... toronto has a huge talent base to draw from... they have about a kajillion schools that train art/animation and software dev, not all the jobs opening are going to be for senior guys. You're also looking at 800 jobs over 10 years, there won't be that much of an instant exodus from smaller studios.

Mind you, when a 120 animator animation studio opened up here in ottawa, they did have a hard time fishing up 120 skilled animators that could jump into a brand new production workflow quickly, and we have a relatively large animation community here in ottawa, so 100ish jobs a year at the new ubisoft studio could be felt.

But hey, if there's a vacuum, I'll gladly let my portfolio get sucked into an established studio, small or large in the next year or so.

Mechadus · Jul 2009

sir-knight wrote: »

But hey, if there's a vacuum, I'll gladly let my portfolio get sucked into an established studio, small or large in the next year or so.

Damn str8 - where do I sign up?

-N!

soulstice · Jul 2009

This is great news for us torontonians! =D

BradMyers82 · Jul 2009

I live in Buffalo NY (2 hours south of Toronto). I heard this on the radio yesterday, and I have to say I'm really excited about this. I'll be applying for sure.

Helixx · Jul 2009

Ya, living near Toronto myself, I'll be sending in my portfolio package.

Mezz · Jul 2009

Anyone have any word on when they'll be looking to officially start hiring? Cause seriously... I gotta get on that asap...

BradMyers82 · Jul 2009

Yeah, Mezz I was just going to ask that same question. I saw the Ubisoft post in the jobs section and was hoping Toronto has begun hiring. It was for Brazil though

JasonLavoie · Jul 2009

I've heard (i think i read it somewhere) that its probably going to be start around January, to be safe though I would start working on a portfolio being ready for Nov - Dec.

I'm MAD pumped for this

Target_Renegade · Jul 2009

I'm a bilingual french speaker, does that mean I'll get a job?:) Seriously though, do you find many `foreigners` get hired in the US and Canadian games industry?

dippingsauce · Jul 2009

hay folks, snooping around on ubisoft's twitter I found --

"Just the time to set things up. You can always email us at workinTO@ubisoft.com and send your resume"

JasonLavoie · Jul 2009

Whoa... nice find

Canadian Ink · Jul 2009

dippingsauce wrote: »

hay folks, snooping around on ubisoft's twitter I found --

"Just the time to set things up. You can always email us at workinTO@ubisoft.com and send your resume"

On the Xbox live video they had it as work.in.TO@ubisoft.com

CrazyMatt · Jul 2009

I'm curious sometimes to know if these emails aren't linked to one of those scam recruiting companies that like to steal the rights to you're portfolio work.

But if it isn't, count me in!

John Warner · Jul 2009

does anyone out there have a million or two for us?

JasonLavoie · Jul 2009

John, I would have totally given you my last million... but I spent it on various snacks and cereals... Sorry dude

John Warner · Jul 2009

dammit! that's exactly what the Canadian government told me!

sir-knight · Jul 2009

Canada and Ontario have tax credits for hiring canadian citizens and ontario residents, it means that the government will subsidize a huge portion of the salary in order to create an ontario job. Quebec has the same thing I believe. It makes more financial sense to hire who they can who's already an ontario resident/citizen, but I doubt that will stop them from hiring internationals.

I would imagine bilingualism is not a requirement for working in toronto, I doubt you'll find many people who can even ask where the washroom is in french that far outside of quebec.

Target_Renegade wrote: »

I'm a bilingual french speaker, does that mean I'll get a job?:) Seriously though, do you find many `foreigners` get hired in the US and Canadian games industry?

Try for the montreal studio too if you are bilingual, I'm sure they will transfer a few people to the new studio to get it running smoothly so there might be a bit of a vacuum in the montreal studio as well when things get going.

Mezz · Jul 2009

Just to help with the legitimacy of the e-mail, I was actually told by a game-reviewer who is friends with my parents to apply at
work.in.TO@ubisoft.combefore it came up in this thread. And he has some contacts at Ubisoft in Montreal, so this address by all means should be legit.
I've already sent in my application

dippingsauce · Jul 2009

I mean if anyone's really worried about it, you can send em to both emails... One's from ubisoft directly so I don't think it'd have issues getting through.

ubisoft.... EXPANDS

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