35 53 w 45.525 n 73.598 w 45.525 ; 73.598 ubisoft divertissements inc. type subsidiary industry video game industry founded 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 headquarters montreal quebec canada key people yannis mallat ceo owner ubisoft number of employees 2 700 2014 parent ubisoft website montreal.ubisoft.com ubisoft divertissements inc. formerly ubi soft divertissements inc. doing business as ubisoft montreal formerly ubi soft montreal is a canadian subsidiary of the french video game developer ubisoft located in montreal quebec canada . founded in 1997 initially developing low profile projects the studio is now one of the largest in the world with over 2 700 employees . 1 it is responsible for developing among others games in the prince of persia far cry and assassin s creed series as well as those in the tom clancy franchise and watch dogs . contents 1 history 2 games developed 2.1 1999 2008 2.2 2009 present 3 references 4 external links history edit ubisoft montreal building the studio was opened in 1997 with government funding . the parent company ubisoft also cited quebec s extensive french speaking population close relationship with france and proximity to north american market as reasons for opening a studio there . 2 martin tremblay joined the studio as executive vice president in 1999 but was promoted to chief operating officer a year later . 3 the history of ubisoft montreal goes back to the early 1990s . at that time the manufacturing and textiles industries in montreal were quickly disappearing and therefore the political party in power at the time the parti qu b cois pq had no choice but to find new sources of job creation . the pq wanted montreal to become a multimedia hub since multimedia was considered a growing industry due to the rise in the number of people who owned computers advancing technology and the rise of the internet . 4 by the early 1990s ubisoft was trying to expand into north america . they originally planned to open a subsidiary in new brunswick . when quebec lobbyist sylvain vaugeois heard about this he proposed to the quebec government that they should get ubisoft to open their subsidiary in montreal instead of new brunswick . he decided to have the government invest in the labour force by giving ubisoft 25 000 per employee they hire in montreal for the next five years and called it plan mercure . when he proposed the idea to the quebec government it received little support because they believed the project was too expensive to fund . sylvain vaugeois would then go to france to meet with ubisoft s management to explain his idea even though the government had no plans to go ahead with it . ubisoft s management team loved it and they then flew to montreal where they realized that plan mercure was not going to go into effect . at that point the media got hold of it and the pq was blamed for letting a fast growing industry slip out of their hands . the pq then had no choice but to go ahead with plan mercure . the pq s finance minister bernard landry then flew to ottawa to meet with the minister of human resources and development at the time pierre pettigrew who agreed to subsidize the creation of 500 jobs over a five year period . the quebec government contributed 15 000 while the federal contributed 10 000 per employee . ubisoft montreal opened in 1997 and today employs over 2 100 employees in montreal . the opening of ubisoft montreal was the first major video game publisher to set up in montreal . other factors that led to ubisoft to choose montreal over new brunswick were montreal s low rent a highly educated french speaking workforce and montreal s image as a creative city . the creation of ubisoft montreal paved the way for both the provincial and federal government to start subsidizing video game companies and thus led to the influx of other video game companies such as ea eidos thq warner bros. etc. setting up shop in montreal . 5 ubisoft montreal s decision to set up in an abandoned textiles factory in the mile end district brought change to the city s landscape . with this decision mile end changed from a low rent area devoid of business to a cultural hub with many young professionals and other businesses locating there . the same thing has happened in vancouver and toronto where video game companies moved their offices in low rent areas turning them into popular neighbourhoods . in vancouver when ea opened up ea vancouver it located in the yaletown transformed the area from an area of small businesses to a mix of both residential homes and offices and has increased the location s population from 40 000 to 110 000 . at the same time when ubisoft opened up in toronto they chose to open up in an industrial factory that was surrounded by fast food restaurants ; now there are high end condos with units starting at 600 000 opening up across the street . 6 initially the studio developed children s games such as donald duck goin quackers and games based on the playmobil series of toys . 7 however in 2000 the studio began work on a game called tom clancy s splinter cell . 8 upon its release in november 2002 splinter cell was met with glowing reviews . ign called the game the best title on xbox this year and wrote in their review that it was a game that will put the ubi soft montreal development house on the map . 9 in 2005 the government of quebec gave ubisoft 5 million dollars to expand . 10 that amount was later increased to 19 million dollars and there are now plans to add 1 400 new employees by 2013 which would make ubisoft montreal the world s largest game development studio . 11 during his time as coo martin tremblay was a staunch supporter of non compete clauses in large part due to an incident in which electronic arts hired away several ubisoft montreal employees to the at the time newly opened ea montreal studio . 12 ironically when tremblay left ubisoft in 2006 to become president of worldwide studios at vivendi games he was prevented from taking the new position by a court order enforcing the non compete clause in his ubisoft contract . 13 upon tremblay s departure yannis mallat a producer of ubisoft montreal s prince of persia series of games became the new ceo also filling the same roles as tremblay s coo position . 14 games developed edit 1999 2008 edit year title platform s 3ds ds gba gc n64 mac dc ps ps2 ps3 psp wii win xbox x360 as ubi soft montreal 1998 laura s happy adventures no no no no no no no no no no no no yes no no 1999 alex builds his farm no no no no no no no no no no no no yes no no 1999 hype the time quest no no no no no no no no yes no no no yes no no 1999 tonic trouble no no no no yes no no no no no no no yes no no 2000 donald duck goin quackers no no no yes yes no yes yes yes no no no yes no no 2000 the jungle book groove party no no no no no no no yes yes no no no no no no 2001 disney s tarzan untamed no no no yes no no no no yes no no no no no no 2002 tom clancy s splinter cell a no no no no no yes no no no no no no yes yes no 2003 tom clancy s rainbow six 3 raven shield no no no yes no no no no yes no no no yes yes no 2003 batman rise of sin tzu no no no yes no no no no yes no no no no yes no as ubisoft montreal 2003 prince of persia the sands of time b no no no yes no no no no yes yes no no yes yes no 2004 myst iv revelation no no no no no yes no no no no no no yes yes no 2004 prince of persia warrior within b no no no yes no no no no yes yes yes no yes yes no 2004 tom clancy s rainbow six 3 black arrow no no no no no no no no no no no no no yes no 2005 far cry instincts no no no no no no no no no no no no no yes no 2005 prince of persia the two thrones b no no no yes no no no no yes yes no no yes yes no 2005 tom clancy s splinter cell chaos theory a c yes no no yes no no no no yes yes no no yes yes no 2006 far cry instincts evolution no no no no no no no no no no no no no yes no 2006 open season video game no yes yes yes no no no no yes no yes yes yes yes yes 2006 tom clancy s splinter cell double agent no no no yes no no no no yes no no yes yes yes no 2006 tom clancy s rainbow six vegas no no no no no no no no no yes yes no yes no yes 2006 far cry vengeance no no no no no no no no no no no yes no no no 2007 tmnt no yes yes yes no no no no yes no yes yes yes yes yes 2007 assassin s creed no no no no no no no no no yes no no yes no yes 2007 my word coach no yes no no no no no no no no no yes no no no 2007 naruto rise of a ninja no no no no no no no no no no no no no no yes 2008 lost via domus no no no no no no no no no yes no no yes no yes 2008 tom clancy s rainbow six vegas 2 no no no no no no no no no yes no no yes no yes 2008 far cry 2 no no no no no no no no no yes no no yes no yes 2008 shaun white snowboarding no no no no no no no no no yes yes yes yes no yes 2008 naruto the broken bond no no no no no no no no no no no no no no yes 2008 prince of persia no no no no no no no no no yes no no yes no yes notes a these games were developed for the ps3 as part of the tom clancy s splinter cell trilogy . b these games were developed for the ps3 as part of the prince of persia trilogy . c the 3ds version of tom clancy s splinter cell chaos theory is entitled tom clancy s splinter cell 3d . 2009 present edit year title platform s mac ps3 ps4 psp wii wii u windows pc xbox 360 xbox one 2009 assassin s creed ii yes yes no no no no yes yes no 2009 james cameron s avatar the game no yes no no yes no yes yes no 2009 shaun white snowboarding world stage no no no no yes no no no no 2010 tom clancy s splinter cell conviction yes no no no no no yes yes no 2010 prince of persia the forgotten sands no yes no yes no no yes yes no 2010 shaun white skateboarding no yes no no yes no yes yes no 2010 assassin s creed brotherhood yes yes no no no no yes yes no 2011 just dance 3