Topic: EA Opens Montreal Studio

[StrikerObi]

Sacre bleu!

EA MONTREAL DEVELOPMENT EVOLVING AHEAD OF SCHEDULE

New Studio and Development Team Creating Games in Montreal’s Place Ville Marie

Redwood Shores, Calif, March 17, 2004– Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) – the world’s leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment -- today inaugurated its new studio in downtown Montreal and announced that hiring and development is running ahead of schedule on three new games in the action/adventure genre.  

“We have found a home in the heart of Montreal that we expect will be the source of great game content for many years to come,” said Alain Tascan, EA’s Vice President and Studio General Manager in Montreal. “The studio in Montreal’s Place Ville Marie allows us all the professional and social conveniences of the city centre and the space to expand in our first phase to 25,000 square feet. We expect a great deal of growth in the coming years.”

EA’s hiring is ahead of schedule with 40 full-time employees currently on staff and plans to increase the number of developers to 70 by this summer.  

“We have received thousands of applications and have hired specialists from Montreal, Western Canada, the US and Europe,” Mr. Tascan continued. “Some of our employees are ex-patriot Quebecers who have returned to Montreal to work for EA.”   EA’s original plans had called for the creation of one game franchise in Montreal for the first year. However, the level of talent that the studio has attracted has allowed the company to work on the development of three new video games, all in the action/adventure genre.  

“We have received thousands of applications,” added Mr. Tascan, “however, we are still looking for game designers, level designers and modelers. In fact, interested applicants can send their rĂ©sumĂ©s to montrealjobs@ea.com. We’d be interested to hear from qualified candidates whether for our operations here in Montreal or elsewhere in the world.”  

EA Worldwide Studio Headquarters is in Vancouver, British Columbia.  There, two studio locations employ some 1,200 developers and produce global best sellers such as FIFA Soccer, NBA LIVE, SSX, Need for Speed™, NBA STREET and Def Jam VENDETTA™.

[KDR_11k]

I heard EA loves to try to steal employees of their competitors, Ubisoft in this case.

[Uncle Rich AiAi]

Yeah, that came to my mind when I read the headline!

Any word on the court case, that is Ubisoft preventing their former employees for working for a competitor (EA) for the first 12 months, or whatever it was?