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Having established a mega-studio in Ubisoft’s hunting grounds of Montreal, THQ has said it is now poaching key staff from the company.
Danny Bilson, THQ’s head of core games, told Joystiq that the publisher will be snaffling a key development trio from nearby Ubisoft Montreal.
He added that THQ would look to hire more staff around the Montreal area.
Last year it was revealed that the publisher secured the contract for Patrice Désilets, the creative director of the Assassin’s Creed series and widely seen as one of Ubisoft Montreal’s most important visionaries.
“I don’t think I can talk about the other three people we’ve already contracted because I wouldn’t… I just know Patrice said, ‘I need these three guys.’ And I said, okay, whatever you need," Bilson said.
“We put all [three] of them on retention and got them started on their non-compete clauses.”
Bilson added that more studio hires will be targeted from “people from the community in Montreal and all over the world.”
THQ opened its Montreal studio at the closing stages of 2010, having received generous state aid from the Quebec government.
The publisher wants to create 400 new jobs within its new offices, as well as expand its workforce to include a range of disciplines from design, to engineering, to art, technology development, QA and localisation.
Last June Ubisoft said Désilets “decided to take a creative break from the industry” – a claim which suggests his move to THQ had come as a surprise for his former employer.
