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Square Enix Are Opening A Brand New Studio In Montréal

By Ishaan . November 21, 2011 . 10:03am

Square Enix Are Opening A Brand New Studio In Montréal

Square Enix already own Eidos-Montréal, who worked on Deus Ex: Human Revolution and are currently working on Thief 4. Next year, Square Enix will be expanding Eidos-Montréal and creating 100 new jobs at the studio. This is in order to allow the studio to work on a third major project in addition to the Deus Ex and Thief series.

 

As part of the expansion, Square Enix will be adding in-house audio recording and motion tracking studios, a mini-theatre, and more to Eidos-Montréal.

 

Additionally, Square Enix will be opening a second, entirely new studio in Montréal next year as well. This studio will create 150 jobs, and will be led by Lee Singleton, currently general manager of Square Enix London Studios.

 

So, what are Square Enix Montréal going to be working on? Square say they’ve been assigned to the Hitman series, which means there are now two studios — Square Enix Montréal and IO Interactive in Copenhagen — working on Hitman. Square Enix Montréal are presently working on a new Hitman game, separate from IO Interactive’s Hitman: Absolution.

 

“Montréal is a vibrant centre of game creators with industry-leading talent, and one of the most important bases of our global network of game development within the Square Enix Group,” said Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada.

 

Food for thought:

Square Enix London have really been in the spotlight of late. They worked with Rocksteady Studios to publish Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009. Currently, they’re working on Heroes of Ruin for the Nintendo 3DS with n-Space, and are also supervising the revival of True Crime: Hong Kong.


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  • badmoogle

    Square Enix’s wallets are bottomless.:p

    I’m curious to see what the new studio will create,hopefully it will be a new IP (that isn’t another shooter.)

    • doomspeller10

      Yeah… it’s all based more or less on the following formula:
      make/remake fan service game/movie -> sell like hotcakes -> invest in risky games -> if those fail either cancel, invest more, or spread some FF7 remake rumors -> if they succeed milk to death -> repeat
      Just kidding.

  • http://twitter.com/Luisen12 Luis Enrique

    Publishing-wise, Square Enix has been doing amazing so here’s hoping they keep it up.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2UQZFOZSMYND4QQWBXHZPPXNKA Vampiric

      and developing wise

      • badmoogle

        That’s debatable.

  • PrinceHeir

    “This is in order to allow the studio to work on a third major project in addition to the Deus Ex and Thief series.”

    New Legacy of Kain???

    i remember those surveys they did early 2011

    http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/survey-says-new-legacy-of-kain-game-coming-5797

    “Square Enix Montréal are presently working on a new Hitman game”

    already??? :P

    maybe they could rehire the original voice actor, writers, composer this time??

    anyways good to see they expand Eidos Montreal.

    i just hope Theif 4 will be just as amazing as they did to Deus Ex HR.

    staying true to the original premise while adding modern mechanics to the mix.

  • http://www.facebook.com/santd Daniel Sant

    So, they shut down their fledgling California studio but are expanding now in Montreal.  Pretty much saw this general turn of events coming though it is a shame they couldn’t have kept the USA studio, too.

    Now they just need to sort out management issues with the JP side and they will be in an awesome position.  Easier said than done but I think they are getting there.

  • SirRichard

    Honestly, a few years ago I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted how much Square Enix has expanded its reach, it’s quite impressive.

    DX:HR was absolutely wonderful, here’s hoping they can keep hitting that level of quality across all their new studios.

  • darkraiders

    Well i worked for EA montreal a few years ago and seriously that’s not something i want to do again no matter how much i like playing game working for game isn’t really fun.
    But it’s nice to see gaming compagny expanding in montreal like this i don’t know about other place but it’s true you have lot of creative and talented peoples here i think Ubisoft is the biggest example of that.
    Assassins creed,Tom Clancy,Prince of Persia just to name a few was all games made in Montreal.
    Hoping S-E can make use of creative people too and we might see a few good new IP in the future.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_2UQZFOZSMYND4QQWBXHZPPXNKA Vampiric

      All the franchises you named are more or less dead in the water in terms of critical reception and sales

      • darkraiders

        I never said they was popular right now or not but all of them was popular sometimes Tom clancy isn’t really popular right now but during last gen it was really popular same with Prince of Persia.
        Assassins Creed is really popular right now even if i don’t like how they splitted Assassins Creed 2 in 3 games to see the whole story each Assassins Creed sold a few millions copies until now.

        Edit: I checked a few places and i don’t know how well Tom Clancy and Prince of persia sell but the critics are quite good for most of the games released this generations.

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