Former Ubisoft producer Jade Raymond announced today that she would be opening Motive Studios, a new EA development team operating out of Montreal, Quebec.
Motive Studios will be a "creative-driven team, incubating entirely new IP and taking on some amazing projects." The first of these projects is set to be Amy Hennig's upcoming Star Wars game, and Raymond's enthusiasm for the chance to work with Hennig is palpable:
I've also known Amy for years and have admired her work on the Uncharted games! I’m thrilled that the first big project that we will work on in Montreal will have Amy as Creative Director. An opportunity to work with her and the Visceral team, and to play in the Star Wars universe, is once-in-a-lifetime stuff.
I'm excited to see what Raymond and Hennig can do together, since both were incredibly active in shaping the last generation of console games. While Hennig was directing the first three Uncharted games, Raymond was busy as a key figure in Ubisoft's development strategy, working as producer on the first two Assassins Creed games and later as the executive producer on Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Watch Dogs. Raymond left Ubisoft in October of last year.
Motive Studios is the latest in an ever growing list of developers working in Montreal, a group including both large companies like Eidos Interactive and independent developers like Kitfox Games and Polytron. Quebec continues to be a destination for game development, at least partially encouraged by provincial tax incentives that currently offer to cover up to 37.5% of a studio's labor costs. Over the last year, this tax credit has come under fire and it may be reduced (though not axed entirely) in the near future. Perhaps EA's decision to open Motive in Montreal shows a confidence that the benefits of developing in Quebec outweigh the risk of that credit being cut.
I'll be curious to see what sorts of games come out of Motive after Visceral's Star Wars game is finished up. Here's hoping that Raymond and co. can create something as ambitious and risky as Assassin's Creed was back in 2007.