Ubisoft Quebec

French video game publisher Ubisoft announced its plans to open a development studio in Quebec City in April 2005.^[2][3] The studio, Ubisoft Quebec, was formally opened on 27 June 2005.^[4] Its founders were Nicolas Rioux and Andrée Cossette, of whom Rioux was appointed as general manager.^[5][6] In June 2008, Ubisoft Quebec announced that it had established a computer-generated imagery production arm that would work in conjunction with distributor Guillemot.^[7] The unit was closed down again with the foundation of Ubisoft Motion Pictures in May 2011.^[8]

Longtail Studios's Quebec City development studio was acquired by Ubisoft in March 2010 and merged into Ubisoft Quebec. Forty-eight employees were transferred to Ubisoft Quebec, while another 6–7, including the acquired studio's manager, departed.^[9] In June 2013, François Pelland was appointed as Ubisoft Quebec's executive director of development.^[10][11] In September 2013, Ubisoft announced its intent to invest CA$373 million in Ubisoft Quebec over seven years to create up to 500 jobs.^[12][13] A first investment of CA$28 million in January 2014 opened 100 positions.^[14][15] Following onto another CA$4 million investment in July 2014, Ubisoft Quebec stated that it would move to new offices in the Saint-Roch neighbourhood of Quebec City and open another 100 positions.^[16]

When Rioux became "vice president of technology" for all of Ubisoft's Canadian studios in November 2017, Patrick Klaus was appointed Ubisoft Quebec's managing director, with Cossette as associate managing director.^[17] In December 2018, Mike Laidlaw joined the studio as creative director, having previously stepped down from the same position at BioWare,^[18] before departing again in February 2020.^[19] The Saint-Roch location, known as UbiNord, was opened in April 2019.^[20] Cossette succeeded Klaus as managing director in November 2019, after Klaus had left the studio earlier that year.^[5][21] Cossette left Ubisoft Quebec in July 2020.^[22]

After developing expansion packs for Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Ubisoft Quebec became the first Ubisoft studio outside Ubisoft Montreal to lead the development of a mainline Assassin's Creed game.^[23][24] The studio's first Assassin's Creed game was Assassin's Creed Syndicate, which was released in October 2015, and continued with Assassin's Creed Odyssey, released in October 2018.^[6][25]

The studio ventured into mobile game development, collaborating with Ubisoft Montreal on Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Mobile for Android and iOS, announced on April 5, 2022.^[26] The title is the adapted version for mobile devices of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege, a successful tactical shooter game belonging to the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six series, which Ubisoft Montreal released in December 2015 for PC and consoles.^[27]