Canada to Give Ubisoft Grants

The Canadian and Quebecois governments have announced millions of dollars in grants and tax subsidies for the Montreal studio of French developer Ubisoft. Bloomberg has the news that these monies will be given to the studio over the course of several years. From the article: "Paris-based Ubisoft plans to hire programmers, game designers and computer animation specialists in the city over the next five years.."

Comments

Outsourcing To Quebec

[blueZhift]

Interesting. Does this mean that Quebec will become a preferred outsourcing destination for French companies? In any case, this just might get Quebec on Ubisoft's side in the fight against an EA takeover.

Not that I'm bitter...

[Txiasaeia]

Ubisoft, in the past, has turned out some pretty good stuff. I'm not arguing this. What I am concerned about is the current government's tendency to spend wads of cash without asking us, the taxpayers, what we think. There was a "sponsorship scandal" here recently in which the federal government supplied the Quebecois government with millions of dollars of cash in order to make the Canada "brand" more visible in the francophone province. As it turns out, most of that money disappeared into the wallets of bureaucrats and CEOs of advertising moguls, with hardly any money at all going towards this dubious end.

I love computer games, but I like health care more, which is what our MINORITY government *should* be spending more money on. $57 million dollars would go a long way in hiring new doctors and nurses, equipment, and other hospital staff. I'm also really appalled that the first I've heard of this is on Slashdot and not on CTV, CBC or Global (three major news outlets in Canada).

Government grants?!?

[ChibiLZ]

I respect Ubisoft and the Montreal studio, they make excellent titles that are well developed.

But why does the government have to give money to them? I was under the idea that they were doing quite well for themselves. Could this possibly be a move to try to force out EA, or allow Ubisoft to get a majority of their own shares? I think that as long as they continue to pump out great games, us gamers will be more than willing to fill their coffers.

OTOH, this will be a good bolster to their equipment, and allow them to more fully exploit the next generation systems coming out. Next-gen titles will certainly be more expensive and/or take longer to develop. Maybe we can now get a Splinter Cell 4 soon for the PS3, XB2, or Revolution.

Finally, a little OT, but I am always glad to see game innovation coming out of somewhere other than Japan. And maybe we should all get out there and buy some stock now, before it shoots up.