Beenox working on Activision’s first Bond game

According to a report in Canadian newspaper Times Colonist, Quebec City-based Activision studio Beenox is working on the next James Bond video game – and plans to add 200 staff to its base of 150 in the next 12 months as part of a major growth spurt.

The Bond project is being developed "in utmost secrecy" and in collaboration with two other Activision-owned studios, and slated to accompany the release of the next Bond film. Treyarch is already confirmed as one of the other studios in the Activision stable working on a 007 title – recently-acquired UK team Bizarre Creations is said to be the other.

Activision has been steadily giving Beenox more projects since acquiring the studio 2005, moving it from porting duties to full development of games based on licences Bee Movie and Spider-Man.

Now, as part of the ramp up, Beenox is planning to grow its already-established base of 150 staff to 350, hiring 200 new staff in the next year and moving into new facilities.

Quebec City, of course, boasts the same generous tax breaks as nearby Montreal (and all of the state of Quebec), although the number of studios in the city is lower – other studios in the area include Ubisoft Quebec and Humagade.