Publisher to quadruple headcount to 800 new employees, and will receive to more than $750m in investment
Ubisoft is planning on transforming its Toronto branch into a studio giant, the publisher has claimed.
As reported by the Financial Post, the company said it is looked to quadruple the number of developers from 210 to 800 over the next ten years.
As well as greatly expanding its headcount, the studio could also see investment totalling $763 million.
The publisher said it was looking to invest more than $500 million into the Ontario branch, whilst $263 million has reportedly already been pledged by the provincial government in 2009 to fund a new Ubisoft studio.
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat said that the Toronto studio is taking on seasoned staff from the publisher’s other branches to help kick-start the developer.
Advertisement
“We’ve been sending over experienced, senior people from Ubisoft Montreal as a guarantee that they immediately get traction and speed and knowledge in place so that they can recruit the best people,” said Mallat.
“You can’t hope to have a studio up and running in one year by just hiring junior people.”
Ubisoft Toronto, headed up by Jade Raymond, is currently at work on developing a new Splinter Cell title, originally created at the company’s Montreal studio.
The deal was always for 800 people.
I really hope this 'super studio' is not working on only a few titles, often the more people you have on a project the more money is wasted. Small teams are much more creative and productive way of working, assuming you have the deadline to match the budget. Just look at some of the most well reviewed games last year. Eidos Montreal said they had a team of around 80-110 working on Deux Ex in a developer interview and Rocksteady have a similar number.
The higher your numbers, the more middle management you need. The longer a studio has being running under a high retainment rate the more people simply manage themselves.
