French video game maker Ubisoft has confirmed that it will close its Vancouver studio by month’s end.
“Ubisoft confirms that we have made the difficult decision to close our studio in Vancouver,” the company told Business in Vancouver in a statement.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t found the right formula for success for the talented team there.”
Ubisoft acquired Vancouver-based studio Action Pants in 2009. Action Pants was founded in 2006. Under Ubisoft’s ownership, the studio reached a peak head count of approximately 100. That number that has since been reduced to 70.
The company said studio employees “will have the opportunity to consider positions in other Ubisoft studios” and that it would “work with each of them to help find the best next step, whether it be within Ubisoft or outside.”
Howard Donaldson, president of the Digital Media and Wireless Association of Canada, told Business in Vancouver that, Ubisoft’s closure notwithstanding, Vancouver’s video game community is “healthy.”
“It’s sad that Ubisoft closed this studio, but there have been rumours the studio would be closed for a couple of years,” he said. “This was a relatively small studio for Ubisoft, and that may have been a factor along with tax incentives that are not competitive with Quebec.”
Donaldson said the B.C. video game community is “on the upswing.”
But he noted that B.C.’s industry could grow more if it had a better incentive program.
“If the tax incentives were competitive with Quebec and Ontario, jobs growth and investment would be significantly higher here,” he said.
Last year, Donaldson told Business in Vancouver that Quebec’s richer tax credits have been drawing Vancouver video game talent to Montreal. (See “Montreal poised to scoop more Vancouver video game talent” – issue 1123, May 3-9, 2011.). •
