Former Bioware and Ubisoft employees have founded Yellow Brick Games, a new game studio in Québec City.
Canada’s newest studio prioritizes “triple-I” (or “triple-A indie”) development with innovative gameplay and original IPs, while also fostering a positive environment for its employees. “We believe fulfilled team members deliver the best content,” the company states on its website.
Yellow Brick Games is headed by Thomas Giroux as CEO, Mike Laidlaw as chief creative officer, Jeff Skalski as COO and executive producer, and Frederic St-Laurent B as game director. All are longtime veterans of the industry, with experience at Ubisoft, Activision Blizzard, and EA. Laidlaw also worked at Bioware for fourteen years, as the creative director for the Dragon Age franchise, and influencing the likes of Mass Effect and Jade Empire.
The studio professed their belief in “creating digital playgrounds” on their website, as well as their commitment to “building a healthy culture [while] building great games.”
Giroux told GamesIndustry, “We want to emphasize a ‘back-to-basics approach’, centered on the pleasure of crafting new game experiences, in a flexible and more personable environment that an independent studio can provide.”
Skalski added, “Leveraging a smaller talented team where people come first, we will create amazing worlds and experiences for all others to enjoy. The market is moving fast, and we have no desire to play catchup and chase it when we can influence where it goes.”
Currently, the team is fifteen people strong, with a global call for recruitment, and is working on an as-of-yet unknown game. LinkedIn profiles indicate that work on this project had begun as early as February 2020.