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SCi-owned Eidos today officially opened the doors to its new Montreal studio.
At a press conference in the heart of the Canadian city attended by Develop, both studio manager Stéphane D’Astous and Eidos’ managing director of studios Rob Murphy were on hand to talk through the plans for the studio, first opened in February, and revealing that the studio was working in a new game in the firm’s Deus Ex series.
D’Astous said the studio’s strategy will be to work on major big-name games for its publisher owner, built on new technology, smaller development teams and 24-month production cycles.
He said: "The key to our success will be through talented and passionate people."
"A tremendous amount of work has gone into the opening of this studio," added Murphy, who explained that the government of Quebec and regional investment agency Invest Quebec had played a key role in convincing the publisher to set up a base in Eastern Canada.
In time, said D’Astous and Murphy, the studio will grow to become Eidos’ biggest studio, with 350 staff. The headcount currently stands at 75, with plans to add around 100 more each year until 2009, in line with the studio’s growth as it takes on more projects.
Eidos Montreal will also house Eidos’ new QA division, responsible for testing all of the games made by the publisher’s internal studios.
"This is a great opportunity for Eidos," added Murphy. "I’m very excited by the vision we have for Montreal; we are working with world-class talent on world-class IP."
In an accompanying statement released to the press, D’Astous said he hoped Eidos Montreal will "offer staff an alternative to the traditional ‘big studio’ working environment" – he previously worked for Ubisoft Montreal, before helping Babel Media set up its Montreal-based games QA and testing facility.
An interview with D’Astous discussing the new studio, its new unique approach to technology, plus the challenge of taking on an esteemed property in Deus Ex, will be published on Developmag.com shortly.
