Game on

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This article was published 06/04/2018 (2762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rarely does the announcement of a $35-million investment and the creation of 100 new jobs over the course of five years — only 20 per year — create such a sense of excitement in Winnipeg.

But when the enterprise is a global brand like Ubisoft — the Paris-based company famous for gaming franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry — and the jobs are in a growing sector like video game development and require the level of skills and creativity that in the past Winnipeggers might have had to leave town to satisfy, it becomes a big deal.

Provincial cabinet ministers, the mayor, the presidents of University of Manitoba and Red River College and several industry leaders were all on hand for Ubisoft’s announcement Friday that it is opening its fifth AAA studio in Canada this fall.

Yannis Mallat, the president of Ubisoft Canada, said two years worth of discussions with Winnipeg officials made it clear there was plenty of support in the community. He said cultural diversity breeds the kind of creativity it takes to create the complex images in the worlds of Ubisoft games and that is what he believes exists in Winnipeg.

“Part of the strategy of our company is to grow and follow the talent,” Mallat said. “Winnipeg is a hidden gem for talent in the video games industry.”

Officials from the company that already has studios in 30 countries — including 3,500 — had been scouting Winnipeg for more than two years.

Paul Vogt, president of Red River College, said Ubisoft officials have done a thorough canvas of the the type of information technology training that exists in Winnipeg. Vogt said that with 350 IT grads every year and 1,000 student in programs — including crucial game development skills like 3-D animation — Ubisoft officials were impressed with the talent pipeline.

“They came to see us last spring when this process was starting,” Vogt said. “Their big question was the talent stream. To me it really felt like a lot of their decision (was on) what kind of skills pipeline there was in Manitoba and how willing we were to work with them on their future needs. We were happy with that.”

‘Winnipeg is a hidden gem for talent in the video games industry’– Yannis Mallat, the president of Ubisoft Canada.

Mallat and newly appointed head of the Winnipeg studio, Darryl Long, said they will continue to talk with all the schools and plan to be part of co-op and maybe internship programs.

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