Ubisoft is investing a whopping $505 million in its development of a new Toronto-based studio, which is set to support up to 800 employees.
Gamasutra reports that the Canadian government will be subsidizing at least half the costs with $263 million in funding over the course of a decade in addition to local tax breaks provided by the Toronto government.
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat expressed his hope for the new studio, which is being headed up by Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond, to see similar success as his Montreal division. The Montreal studio is responsible for overseeing the development of the Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, and Splinter Cell franchises.
“We are, in a way, applying the same recipe. We’ve been sending over experienced, senior people from Ubisoft Montreal as a guarantee that they immediately get traction and speed and knowledge in place so that they can recruit the best people,” he said.
“You can’t hope to have a studio up and running in one year by just hiring junior people.”
The new Toronto studio has yet to tell us what it's working on, but Raymond has said that the team is close to announcing it [via VG247].