Visual effects, animation and video games

A shining star in video game development

World leader in the video game industry, Montréal is home to a pool of creative and specialized talent. There are close to 15,000 video game experts and over 140 studios in Montréal, shaping the future of video game development globally. 

The Greater Montréal region was the first concentration of deep learning researchers in the world, and the first in Canada for VFX and animation. With a diversified ecosystem, the city has emerged as a global leader in video games niches, such as VR/AR and gamification in fields such as health care and education. 

The largest independent video game cooperative, La Guilde, is also based in Montréal. It supports and ensures the sustainability of Québec’s independent video game studios with over 160 studio members. Montréal is also home to Alliance Numérique, an organization that regroups and represents video game companies of all sizes across the province of Québec. With nearly 100 active members, the organization works to support and promote the products and contributions of this sector among media, government decision-makers, and the general public.

Recently, gaming giant Unity Technologies—the San Francisco-headquartered game engine behind Angry Birds, Pokémon Go, and Super Mario Run—expanded its Montréal office with a new Artificial Intelligence lab, creating more than 450 jobs in the city. 

Also noteworthy is a recent announcement from French animation firm Caribara, which plans to open a new animation production studio in Montréal’s Mile End neighborhood.

The brains behind the games

Montréal boasts a truly talented gaming sector, with 14,000 university students enrolled in IT-related programs. The city’s four universities—Concordia University, the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), McGill University, and the Université de Montréal (UdeM)—offer 25 undergraduate-level programs in interactive digital content, engineering, and computer sciences, while technical colleges offer more than 275 combined ITC programs. 

Montréal also boasts Canada’s only research chair on artificial intelligence for video games. Affiliated with the Université de Montréal, the NSERC-Ubisoft Industrial Chair on Learning Representations for Immersive Video Games was created in 2011. 

We’re home to the internationally-recognized Institut national de l’image et du son (L’INIS), and the National Animation and Design Centre (Centre NAD), which offers a bachelor’s degree in 3D animation and design. 

In 2018, Montréal ranked 1st in the Americas among the best university cities according to the QS Best Student Cities index.

Branching out with bold new ideas

City-wide, exciting new partnerships are forming, propelling the city forward and proving that it possesses a unique blend of talent, creativity, and business-savviness. Recently, Ubisoft's Education Program—alongside the Québec Minister of Economy and Innovation and Kids Code Jeunesse—announced the roll out of the Code Club program in Québec. Made to support digital skills development, this program offers weekly coding workshops to young people aged 8 to 12.  

Other innovative projects include a partnership between Ululab and the University of Québec in Montréal to design video games that are fun and that focus on learning content directly inspired by mathematics and science curriculums. A study co-led by the University of Montréal and the Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM) that found that playing video games on a regular basis can improve cognitive functions in seniors.

Montréal is home to some of the industry’s biggest game company subsidiaries, such as:

• Ubisoft
• Electronic Arts
• Eidos
• Warner Bros. Games Montréal
• Gameloft
• Behaviour Interactive

Major events

• Dream Hack 2018

Attendance 2,000

• Developer Roadshow 2018 (Nintendo of America) 

Attendance: 125

• Six Invitational 2019 (Ubisoft) 

Attendance: 4,000