Electronic Arts will be creating new jobs in the province of Quebec, hiring 500 new staff members in Montreal according to gamesindustry.biz.
The Quebec government announced that EA will be investing an estimated $500 million in Quebec over the next ten years. “We offer Electronic Arts a stable, predictable, competitive fiscal framework enabling the company to move forward with this substantial expansion,” Quebec Minister of Finance Carlos Leitao said, offering a reason for the large investment. Beyond job creation, Electronic Arts intends to help structure the industry by designing infrastructure that can be shared with the video game community.
Electronic Arts (known best as EA) already has a number of studios located in Montreal. Formed in 2004, EA Montreal was founded by Alain Tascan, a former Ubisoft executive. The studio’s best-known titles are Army of Two and its sequels, Army of Two: The 40th Day and Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel. Outside of the Army of Two series, EA Montreal developed a number of handheld and Wii titles such as SSX on Tour for the PlayStation Portable and Boogie on the Nintendo Wii.
“This investment shows that the city is definitely a hub for the video game industry. Montréal strengthens its position as one of the industry’s focal points,” Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said in a statement. “These new jobs will add to Montréal’s tremendous economic vitality. I would also like to thank Electronic Arts for their continued trust.”
Canadian developer BioWare, owned by EA also has a Montreal studio. BioWare Montreal formed in 2009 as a means of assisting BioWare’s original studio when necessary. As of 2013, the studio worked to develop the latest Mass Effect title, Mass Effect Andromeda.
Motive Studios was founded in 2015 by the former producer of Assassin’s Creed Jade Raymond. It’s another EA-owned studio based in Montreal. Motive was formed on the basis of creating action-adventure games along with forming new intellectual properties. They’re currently working on two different titles related to the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars Battlefront II is being co-developed with EA DICE and Criterion games. A new, untitled Star Wars game is also being co-developed by Visceral Games, the developers behind the Dead Space series.
This is just another in a long list of major game studios based in Montreal Quebec, including Gameloft Canada, Square Enix Montreal, Ubisoft Quebec, Bethesda Game Studios, and Warner Bros. Games Montreal, along with a series of indie studios and incubators. With the large range of talent currently based in the region, it is no wonder EA is making a larger push with their Montreal Based studio.
