Ubisoft To Acquire Microids' Canadian Studios

Ubisoft, one of the industry's largest publishers and the recent architect of a new base of operations in Montreal, has announced its acquisition of similarly French-headquartered publisher Microids' Canadian development division, with the intent to fold the staff into its own Montreal studio. The deal has not yet been finalized, pending unspecified agreements between the two companies, and the terms of the deal were not disclosed. Ubisoft's claim in the deal extends only to Microids' Canadian facilities and employees; Microids' IP and existing projects, which includes the Syberia franchise as well as the recent Still Life and Obscure games, are unaffected by the acquisition. Over fifty employees will be added to Ubisoft's Montreal studio, which creates titles in the Splinter Cell series as well as the recent Prince Of Persia titles and post-Uru games in the Myst series. This deal appears to be separate from a massive job creation plan recently announced by Ubisoft and the Canadian government, in which Emploi-Québec are contributing $6.3 million (USD $5.3 million) in financial assistance for the first three years of the expansion program, and the Ministère de l'Education will invest $5.3 million (USD $4.28 million) over five years to create a specialized training centre for interactive entertainment, as well as an additional $6 million (USD $4.85 million) from Investissement Québec over three years.