L’industrie du jeu vidéo à Montréal n’est pas complètement immunisée contre la récession. Un des studios d’ici, Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M), met à pied 10% de sa main d’oeuvre en espérant que ce soit une mesure temporaire.

L’entreprise a indiqué qu’elle n’avait pas de travail pour une quarantaine de personnes sur les 400 qu’elle emploie.

Michelle Fortier, porte-parole de A2M, confirme la nouvelle a indiqué que l’économie a eu quelque chose à voir avec la décision.

«Essentiellement, c’est l’état de l’industrie du jeu, explique-t-elle. Avec le ralentissement économique des deux dernières années, nous avons vu une baisse des ventes des jeux pour console. En ce moment, le nombre de projets et leur taille ne permettent pas de conserver autant d’employés.»

Il reste un espoir de redonner du travail à ces 40 personnes.

«Il a été plus difficile d’obtenir des contrats ces derniers mois, ajoute la porte-parole. Nous sommes en discussion avec des partenaires et il y a beaucoup de projets probables. Nous ne pouvons pas dire quand mais nous sommes confiants de rappeler les gens dans les prochains mois.» […]

Lisez l’article sur Canoe…

Following last year’s announcements from THQ and Funcom, Warner Bros. Interactive is the latest videogame company to open a studio in La Belle Province.

Speaking in a press conference earlier this afternoon in downtown Montreal, GameFocus learned that Warner Bros.  Interactive’s current president Martin Tremblay will lead the new 300+ employee studio, which will be known as WB Games Montreal.

It is obvious that the new studio will take advantage of the great incentive program offered by the Québec government. Tremblay also said that Warner will open another studio in another city soon.

Tremblay, who used to work for Vivendi Games and Ubisoft Montréal prior to joining Warner, became Warner Interactive’s president in July 2008.

With Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Eidos, A2M, THQ and Funcom, the hunt for talented people has begun. Positions in Art, Game Design, Marketing, Community, Quality Assurance, Production, Audio and Engineering can be filled via the WB Games career website.

Update:

Martin Tremblay told us that the new Montreal studio will focus on creating games based on the DC Comics license.

Update:

More information on CBC.

From Gamasutra: THQ Cuts 60 Jobs As Rainbow, Juice Rebrand, Refocus On Digital

Publisher THQ announced it would be refocusing its Juice Games and Rainbow Studios on digital distribution — and cutting 60 jobs as part of the strategy.

Juice Games will now be known as THQ Digital Studios Warrington, while Rainbow will be re-titled THQ Digital Studios Phoenix. According to the publisher, the studios’ core mandate will now be to create digitally-distributed games based both on owned and new IP. […]

From Engadget: THQ CEO calls PS3 Motion Controller ‘Arc’ throughout investor call

During an investor call, Farrell referred to the "PlayStation Arc motion controller" multiple times in both his prepared statements and in the Q&A round that followed. Remember, this is the same man who loose-lipped the Natal launch date well before Ballmer confirmed it for late 2010. Yeah, so PlayStation Arc it is. […]

From Joystiq: Darksiders, Saint’s Row sequels from THQ in fiscal 2012

THQ’s Brian Farrell has revealed on today’s investor conference call that the company is planning to revisit some of its most successful franchises as far away as the fiscal year of 2012 (which would be sometime after March 2011), including this year’s bestseller Darksiders, and the popular Saint’s Row franchise. Farrell says the company is looking to fiscal 2012 for "accelerated growth with three major core game titles scheduled: Warhammer 40k Space Marine, a sequel to Darksiders and the third generation of our popular Saint’s Row franchise." […]

Here are recent Montreal video game jobs from our friends at 3pod.

• Character Marketing Artist / Artiste de personnages marketing
• Senior Generalist Programmer / Programmeur généraliste senior
• Programmer PS3 Engine / Programmeur d’engin PS3
• Lead Rendering Programmer / Chef d’équipe, Programmeur Rendu
• Creative Director MMO / Directeur Créatif MMO
• Producer / Producteur
• Technical Artistic Director / Directeur technique Artistique

Are you interesting in those jobs, or know someone that might be? Contact 3pod and let them know. Or check our their other available positions.

[…] Finding a job in the video game industry is a dream come true for many people who grew up playing games on computers and consoles. And the field is swiftly expanding as people turn to mobile devices like the iPhone and social networking sites like Facebook for entertainment.

Analysts and developers point to a common thread: The entire video game universe is maturing.

"I’d say game industries are sort of coming out of their adolescence," says Drew Davidson, the director of the entertainment technology center at Carnegie Mellon University. "They’re in their late teens and so there’s still a lot of growing to do."

[…] "The U.S. is the No. 1 video game market in the world," says Michael Gallagher, the chief executive officer for the ESA. "So, here at home we have a very strong market for employment in video games."

The hubs for the industry include Austin, Texas; Boston; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Seattle; North Carolina; and the Washington, D.C., metro area. […]

Read the rest of the interesting article on NPR…

Have you personally seen an increase in the Montreal game industry job demande? Let us know in the comments.

What job category best describes your current position in the game industry?

Or if you’re not working yet, what type of game job are you studying for, or dreaming about?

If there’s something you’d like to share, feel free to post a comment.

Trouvé sur Radio-Canada:

L’entreprise spécialisée dans le développement de jeux vidéo en ligne Funcom, qui annonçait l’ouverture d’un bureau à Montréal en septembre dernier, commence à déménager.

Pour l’instant, environ 25 employés des bureaux de l’entreprise en Norvège et en Chine ont été déployés dans la métropole. Parmi eux, des concepteurs de l’entreprise qui développent de nouveaux jeux, notamment la suite de Age of Conan, un titre phare de Funcom.

Elle a aussi nommé un nouveau PDG pour sa division canadienne, Miguel Caron. Ce dernier a auparavant dirigé plusieurs entreprises, entre autres dans le domaine des technologies. Il occupait jusqu’à récemment le poste de PDG de l’entreprise BCM.

[…]

Lisez le reste sur Radio-Canada.

Update: Here’s a cool trailer for Secret World (via @pllabbee3pod):

Switching to english, here are more details from the press release:

MONTREAL, Jan. 7 /CNW Telbec/ – Funcom – the highly acclaimed independent developer and publisher of online games – is delighted to announce a key nomination for its newly established Montreal based company, Funcom Games Canada. The award-winning Miguel Caron – who brings with him over 15 years of organizational leadership experience – has been appointed to serve as the CEO for Funcom Games Canada Inc.

"We are thrilled to have Miguel join us at Funcom," says Funcom CEO Trond Arne Aas. "Our Montreal based Company is central to a string of new business initiatives in Funcom, both in the high-end MMO space and in the casual MMO space. Mr. Caron will be instrumental in developing and expanding those initiatives. We have already found Quebec and Montreal to be an excellent location for business and we look forward to further expand our operations here under the leadership for Miguel."

Miguel Caron has a proven track record of driving strong, sustainable revenue and productivity gains within highly competitive national and global markets. Mr. Caron will take on leadership of several strategic initiatives for Funcom, in several different areas of the exciting MMO games segment. One of his first mandates will be to lead the growth in employees at the Montreal company.

"Funcom is renowned for quality productions such as ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ and the ‘Longest Journey’ series. I have found its management team to be extremely competent, which is of course a key aspect of being successful in such a competitive market. I look forward to bringing my business experience to help that management team generate even more value to all Funcom stakeholders," stated Miguel Caron, the newly appointed CEO of Funcom Games Canada.

Mr. Caron has led successful public and private businesses such Lyrtech Inc. He was instrumental to the growth of many high-tech companies and won many awards like the Arista price for best young entrepreneur of the year for mid and large size company as well as the Deloitte Canadian Fast 50.

About FUNCOM

Funcom is a world leading independent developer and publisher of online games, and was founded in 1993. There are currently over 300 talented individuals from over 35 different nationalities working at Funcom, spread out across offices in Norway, China, Switzerland, Canada and the US. This makes Funcom one of the most multi-cultural game development studios in the world. The company is responsible for multiple award-winning titles such as the ‘Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ and ‘Anarchy Online’ MMOs, as well as the ‘The Longest Journey’ and ‘Dreamfall’ adventure games.

For corporate information please visit www.funcom.com.

For information about Funcom games visit http://www.anarchy-online.com, www.dreamfall.com, www.darkdaysarecoming.com or www.ageofconan.com.

Funcom is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker FUNCOM.

Screenshots and the trailers for The Secret World and Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures are available at ftp://ftp.funcom.com/press/the_secret_world

A high-resolution picture of Miguel Caron is available upon request.

For further information: Alexandra Graveline, Morin Public Relations, (514) 289-8688, ext. 229, Cell.: (514) 247-9971, alexandra@morinrp.com; Charles Durivage, Morin Public Relations, (514) 289-8688, ext. 227, charlesd@morinrp.com; Source: Erling Ellingsen, Director of Communications, Funcom, +47 22 92 59 44

A Montreal simulation and modeling software company has doubled the size of its Orlando office and plans to hire an additional 10 workers for its 20-employee office near the University of Central Florida.

Presagis, which recorded $40 million in revenue in its fiscal year that ended March 31, increased its 2,500-square-foot office in the UCF Research Park to 5,500 square feet.

The company, which also has offices in Tucson, Dallas and San Jose, expects to add 10 employees — mostly engineers earning between $80,000 and $120,000 — over the next year, said Andrew Elvish, vice president of worldwide operations and marketing

Presagis, which sells software to more than 1,000 customers, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Airbus, has more than 220 workers at its four offices.

Hopefully this this will help grow their Montreal offices too.