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Ubisoft Toronto

Coordinates: 43°40′N 79°26′W / 43.66°N 79.44°W / 43.66; -79.44
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43°40′N 79°26′W / 43.66°N 79.44°W / 43.66; -79.44

Ubisoft Toronto Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 2010; 14 years ago (2010-09)
FounderJade Raymond
Alexandre Parizeau
Maxime Béland
Headquarters
Toronto
,
Canada
Key people
Alexandre Parizeau (managing director)
Number of employees
600 (2017)
ParentUbisoft
Websitetoronto.ubisoft.com

Ubisoft Toronto Inc. is a Canadian video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Toronto. The studio was established under Jade Raymond in September 2010. Games developed by Ubisoft Toronto include Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Far Cry 5, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and Watch Dogs Legion.

History

Ubisoft announced in July 2009 that it was establishing a Toronto-based development studio. Yannis Mallat, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Ubisoft Montreal, was to become Ubisoft Toronto's CEO, while the government of Ontario was to invest CA$263 million over a course of 10 years to create up to 800 jobs.[1][2] Unlike other Ubisoft studios, Ubisoft Toronto was immediately allowed to lead development of its games, whereas others start by only supporting larger studios like Ubisoft Montreal, though Ubisoft Toronto also served to support Montreal as part of its initial role as a sister studio.[3][4][5]

By September 2009, Jade Raymond was put in charge of establishing the studio.[2] Most of the studio's staff in its development phase, including Raymond, transferred to the new location from Ubisoft Montreal.[3] Key hires included producer Alexandre Parizeau and creative director Maxime Béland, who were brought on for the production of a new game in the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series, and were considered co-founders of the studio alongside Raymond.[6][7] A second, smaller development team for an undisclosed project was headed up by Lesley Phord-Toy, and Rima Brek was put in charge of the studio's internal Technology Group.[6][8] By May 2010, Ubisoft Toronto had received more than 2,000 job applications.[7]

Ubisoft Toronto's offices were established from a former General Electric building in the Junction Triangle neighborhood of Toronto.[5][3] Ubisoft Toronto began operating in late 2009 and formally opened in September 2010.[9][10]

By March 2012, Ubisoft Toronto had grown to 200 people, and to 300 by September 2013.[9][10] By the latter, the studio had received 30,000 applications and given 1,800 job interviews.[10] In September 2012, Ubisoft Toronto received an internal performance capture studio.[11] The studio's debut project, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, was released in August 2013 to critical success.[4][10] Raymond left the studio and was succeeded as general manager by Parizeau.[12] By July 2015, Ubisoft Toronto was developing an original intellectual property (IP).[13] This game was later revealed to be Starlink: Battle for Atlas, an action-adventure game with optional toys-to-life integration.[14] The game was released in 2018 as the studio's first own IP.[15] As of July 2017, Ubisoft Toronto has 600 staff members.[16]

Near the end of June 2020 and into July 2020, a wave of accusations related to the MeToo movement swept through the video game industry, including several directed at some Ubisoft employees. Over one hundred employees of Ubisoft Toronto wrote to the studio's managing director Alexandre Parizeau in late June to report concerns related to sexual misconduct and the lack of action taken by management and human resources in response to their prior reports. Ubisoft announced it had investigated these reports, and in the case of Ubisoft Toronto, had requested studio co-founder Maxime Béland resign from the company. Speaking to Kotaku, some of these employees stated that there were still additional problems at the studio that went beyond Béland and they were still seeking signs of larger change from the studio and Ubisoft as a whole.[5]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s)
2013 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360
2018 Far Cry 5 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Starlink: Battle for Atlas Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
2020 Watch Dogs: Legion Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One
2021 Far Cry 6 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

References

  1. ^ Fahey, Mike (6 July 2009). "Ubisoft Toronto Brings 800 Jobs To Ontario". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b Thorsen, Tor (1 September 2009). "Jade Raymond heading up Ubisoft Toronto". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2 July 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b c Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 1 of 4". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  4. ^ a b Dyer, Mitch (4 September 2013). "The Rise of Ubisoft Toronto: How a New Team Nailed its AAA Debut". IGN. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Gach, Ethan (6 July 2020). "Ubisoft Employees Have 'Grave Concerns' Over Toronto Studio's Misconduct Allegations". Kotaku. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  6. ^ a b Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 2 of 4". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  7. ^ a b Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 3 of 4". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  8. ^ Kumar, Mathew (25 May 2010). "Building On Conviction: Inside Ubisoft Toronto, Page 4 of 4". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  9. ^ a b Weber, Rachel (8 March 2017). "Jade's Empire: Building Ubisoft's Super-Studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  10. ^ a b c d Sinclair, Brendan (6 September 2013). "How to build a AAA studio". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 10 April 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  11. ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (14 September 2012). "Ubisoft Opens New Performance Capture Studio". IGN. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  12. ^ Crecente, Brian (20 October 2014). "Ubisoft Toronto managing director Jade Raymond leaves company". Polygon. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  13. ^ Moser, Cassidee (14 July 2015). "Ubisoft Toronto is Working on a New AAA IP". IGN. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  14. ^ Takahashi, Dean (12 June 2017). "Ubisoft unveils Starlink video game with toys that attach to your controller". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  15. ^ Dring, Christopher (12 June 2017). "Ubisoft Toronto: "We can bring life back to toys-to-life"". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  16. ^ Sapieha, Chad (6 July 2017). "Ubisoft Toronto's big bet: A new spin on toy-based video games with Starlink". Financial Post. Archived from the original on 16 June 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
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