Japanese video game publisher Square Enix is looking to bring more of its development work to Canada. Square Enix expanding its studios in Montreal will add 100 game development related jobs to both studios.
Square Enix currently has two studios based in Montreal: Eidos Montreal and Square Enix Montreal. The Japanese company inherited the former after their 2009 purchase of Eidos Interactive (now Square Enix Europe). On the other hand, Square Enix put up the latter studio after the acquisition originally to work on Hitman games. That didn’t push through however, and they moved on to developing mobile games instead.
When put together, both studios currently have around 700 or so employees. This makes them Square Enix’s largest group of employees outside of Japan.
In addition to hiring more staff, the Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Square Enix will also renovate their current Montreal facility. The renovations will add about 10,000 square feet to their offices. It will add full performance motion capture and photogrammetry studios, a user research laboratory, and a mixing and voice recording studio.
Of the two studios, the expansion of Eidos Montreal seems to be the most interesting. The studio has previously worked on a number of the biggest titles from the former Eidos Interactive. This includes the Tomb Raider reboot and its sequel, as well as the recent Deux Ex games. It’s possibly that the studio is looking to start work on a new title in either franchise.
However, its their most recent, and most interesting project that seems like it will benefit from Square Enix expanding. Eidos Montreal is currently working on a project based around The Avengers alongside Crystal Dynamics.
Since its announcement, Square Enix hasn’t really revealed much about The Avengers project aside from the fact that the two studios are working on it. Could Eidos Montreal’s expansion mean that work on their part of the game is ramping up? With the recent release of Avengers: Endgame in theaters, Square Enix could be readying itself to actually start showing more of the game.
Square Enix is holding their E3 press conference on Monday, June 10. Perhaps they’ll reveal what project, or projects, the expansion is meant for around that time.
