Eidos Sets Up Development Arm In Montreal

Major publisher and developer Eidos Interactive have announced plans for a new development studio in Montreal, Québec to work on next-gen titles, creating 350 jobs within the next 3 years. Eidos has recruited former Ubisoft exec Stéphane D’Astous as General Manager of Eidos Montréal, D’Astous will be responsible for setting up the new studio and recruiting the development team, which the company is starting from scratch. Due to both favorable tax and government incentives, as well as early investment by companies such as Ubisoft, Montreal has been increasingly in prominence as a development location in recent years, with Electronic Arts also setting up a development arm there in recent times. In the past year, the SCi-acquired Eidos has been converting positive results from Tomb Raider and Hitman franchises into growth, establishing two new studios in Eidos Sweden and Eidos Studios Hungary. The latter has just completed the development of Battlestations: Midway which is currently No.1 in the UK charts. Eidos Montreal will join the internal Eidos studios which include Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Pivotal Games and Beautiful Game Studios. “This is a really exciting time for Eidos, we are actively looking for opportunities to further our drive to become a major force in global videogames publishing. Montreal is the ideal location to open a new studio because of its thriving game development community and favourable economics,” said Bill Ennis, Commercial Director, Eidos.