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During a livestream earlier today, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced the creation of a new studio in Saguenay (Quebec, Canada) and a massive investment plan for the region – the most important one for Ubisoft since it opened its first studio in Quebec in 1997.

Ubisoft Saguenay will open as soon as January 2018, with former director for Ubisoft’s online technology group Jimmy Boulianne (pictured) being chosen to be the studio’s managing director. The new office will be focusing on online services and technologies and will hire 125 employees within five years. This represents an investment of $135m by 2027.

In addition to this, Guillemot announced the creation of another studio in Quebec within the next ten years, though the location has not been chosen yet. In total, Ubisoft will invest an additional $780m in the region and create 1,000 new jobs by 2027. 200 of these new hires will go to Ubisoft Quebec, while 675 positions will be created across Ubisoft Montreal and the new location.

At the end of this new growth phase, the company will employ 4,600 people and will have made direct investments in Quebec totalling $9bn since 1997,” the company further said.

Ubisoft will also invest an additional $13m in education and research in Quebec, in order to further attract young talents to the games industry in the region.

Quebec is one of the international leaders as far as video games are concerned, and could become the international leader if this growth is sustained,” Guillemot said during the livestream.

We are creating international content that is loved by everyone and Quebec is the place where we can find the creators for this content.” He added that Quebec is Ubisoft’s growth engine.”

In a press release following the announcement, he further said: We are proud to have contributed to the emergence of Quebec as a world-renowned hub for video game development. Over 20 years, Ubisoft has created more than 3,600 jobs, invested more than $3.5billion and developed some of the greatest brands in the industry here in Quebec. Today, video games are the most dynamic segment of the entertainment industry, and are at the heart of technological revolution. As a result, we have a unique opportunity to build tomorrow’s Quebec, together.”

Ubisoft Saguenay’s new managing director Jimmy Boulianne commented: I come from the Cte-Nord region and I am proud to be able to concretely contribute to creating regional jobs. I also have always had the ambition of returning to the region and sharing the expertise I have acquired during my career. Thanks to Ubisoft’s support, today, I am achieving these two ambitions. I invite all of those who want to participate in this great adventure to reach out to us using any of our communications or recruiting platforms. Ubisoft Saguenay is destined for a wonderful future.”