Ubisoft Plugs Into Toronto

It seems there is a renewed optimism to invest in Toronto now that the "take from the rich and give to the poor NDP politicians" will soon be municipal history following the next local elections, as France-based videogame software giant Ubisoft, with a flagship base in Montreal, has announced an investment of $806 million in Toronto, creating up to 1,000 videogame-related jobs.

Ubisoft will build its Ontario base out of an old General Electric plant @ Bloor and Lansdowne in the city's west end, which will evolve into the second largest of the company's Canadian operations.

The French computer/video game publisher/developer, partially owned by Electronic Arts, based in Montreuil-sous-Bois, France, currently has an international presence with studios and subsidiaries in 28 countries.

Toronto studio head Jade Raymond, received $263 million from the provincial government, along with $543 million from Ubisoft, anticipating 150 new employees by year's end and 800 over the next 10 years. Raymond will build an infrastructure on the tech side, before focusing on hiring a new animation director, storyboard artists and writers.

The new Toronto team will also include Ubisoft Montreal's creative director Max Béland, audio director Fabien Noël and producer Alex Parizeau.

Upcoming Ubisoft games for 2010 include "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood", "Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands", "Pure Football", "R.U.S.E.", "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier", "Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X 2" and "TrackMania 2".

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