ubisoft-toronto posts

It's a rare thing to see a video game development studio in the early stages but a new YouTube video does that as it shows off the recently opened Ubisoft Toronto offices. The video shows off the open office space of the studio which currently has about 80 people employed but has plans to expand to 800 team members in the next several years.

As previously announced, the new Ubisoft Toronto offices is being head up by original Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond. The team is currently working on the sixth game in the Splinter Cell stealth action game series as well as another unnamed but original game property.

Ubisoft's relatively new Toronto development studio hasn't released one game yet but the head of the studio has some ambitious plans for the future. In a new chat with Develop, studio head Jade Raymond stated that the goal is to have up to 800 team members at the studio within 10 years.

While Raymond would not get into specifics, she did say, "eventually we'll be working on five" games when they have enough people. At the moment Ubisoft Toronto is working on two games with just 45 team members. One of the games will be the next title in the Splinter Cell series but details of that game have not yet been revealed.

Splinter Cell Conviction has just been released but developer/publisher Ubisoft already has big plans for the stealth action game series going forward. Gamasutra reports that the publisher's newest development studio in Toronto will be the new home of the Splinter Cell franchise. Details of the game itself are being kept under wraps The studio also has another unnamed game in the works.

Ubisoft Toronto was launched in 2009 and is headed up by Jaye Raymond, who gained fame as the producer of the first Assassin's Creed game. The Toronto studio is expected to hire as many as 800 employees over the next 10 years.

One of the most well known people at Ubisoft (and let's face one of the best looking game developers period) has just gotten a promotion. Jade Raymond has just been named the head of the publisher's recently revealed development studio in Toronto.

Raymond previously gained fame as the producer for Ubisoft's hit Assassin's Creed which was developed at Ubisoft's Montreal studio. As head of the new Toronto team, Raymond will still report to Yannis Mallat, who is the CEO of both Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto. The Toronto office will open by the end of 2009 but at the moment there's no word on what specific games Raymond will be in charge of at the new studio.

While other publishers are cutting jobs and development studios, Ubisoft is actually expanding even in this economic climate. Today the company announced plans to open a new dev studio in Toronto, Canada before the end of the year.

Ubisoft says they expect the new studio to have as many as 800 people employed within the next 10 years. The publisher is investing $500 million in the new studio and is being helped by government funds that will total $263 million over 10 years. This will be the fourth game development studio Ubisoft has opened in Canada following established studios in Montreal, Quebec City and Vancouver. There's no word yet on what games the new Toronto studio will be making.