Ubisoft To Boost Romanian Studio Staff

Although the economic downturn means belt-tightening for many publishers, Ubisoft plans to add more than 120 staffers to its Romanian studio (Blazing Angels, Silent Hunter), according to regional daily Ziarul Financiar. Ubisoft's is reported to have 650 staffers already among two studios in Romania, and the company's Eastern Europe managing director Sebastinen Delen says it'll add 75 people to its Bucharest studio, and 51 more to its recently-launched Craiova offices in southern Romania. Of the new hires, 35 are expected to be testers, and 65 designers and programmers. Many of these will be intermediate positions, Delen says. "We are employing some 850 people in Eastern Europe, and our target is to reach 1,000 video game developers next year, 800 of them in Romania, in the offices in Bucharest and Craiova, as well as in other cities," he adds. As for Ubisoft Romania as a whole, it says it will have 15 million euros ($19 million) in total investments on hand by the end of the year -- and Delen stresses the company's resiliency against the economy. "During this period, people have not traveled a lot, have not made investment, have not consumed a lot," he says. "Instead of all this, they have stayed at home and played video games. We expect the local video game market to keep growing next year."