Gearbox opens new studio in Quebec City

Gearbox Software, the Dallas-area developer behind the Borderlands franchise, has founded a satellite studio in Quebec City, Canada, the company announced today.

Gearbox has partnered with numerous developers and publishers before, but Gearbox Studio Quebec represents the first time in the company's 16-year history that it has established a separate office. Gearbox Studio Quebec is now hiring, with the intent of "growing to full AAA production capability through 2016," according to a press release from Gearbox. The Canadian studio's website currently lists 16 open positions.

As for what Gearbox Studio Quebec will be working on once it staffs up, Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford said the satellite office will "help us build fun and exciting video games within our tent-pole brands." Those brands include the long-running Borderlands and Brothers in Arms series, and Gearbox is working on a new game called Battleborn that is scheduled to launch in May 2016.

Gearbox Studio Quebec will be run by Sebastien Caisse, PhD, as co-studio head and director of operations, and Pierre-Andre Dery as co-studio head and studio creative director. Caisse has a long history in business development for companies such as Squeeze Animation and Quebecor Media; Dery previously worked as chief operating officer at Volta and art director at Activision.

"To be able work for such a storied independent game studio as Gearbox is a great honor," said Caisse.

Quebec City, the capital of Quebec, is the home of developers such as Ubisoft Quebec (Assassin's Creed Syndicate), Beenox (Skylanders SuperChargers) and Frima Studio (Chariot), all of which are at least a decade old. The province of Quebec, which also includes Montreal, is a very desirable location for game makers to set up shop because of the government's generous tax credits for game development, which can go as high as 37.5 percent.