Rockstar Vancouver Dies so That Rockstar Toronto May Expand

Hopefully most of those dudes can make the move to Ontario. Best wishes to those who can't.

I'm an American, so I don't know anything about Canadian labor laws.

On a side note, why the hate for Toronto? My understanding is that its a nice, clean, diverse, youthful city with tons to do.

I get that Vancouver is nice, I'm from the Pacific Northwest myself, but is the differential between Ontario and BC that huge?

Furthermore, many industries implement relocation into their business roadmaps, its not strictly for game devs.

@Darkstorn: Oakville is not Toronto. Oakville is near Toronto.

No, don't bother...

@Bassman2112 said:

First Radical now Rockstar Van?

Man, game devs are getting the hell out of Vancouver.......

Radical didn't get out, they were shut down.

Hopefully most can make the transition to the GTA. Sure, it's not Van, but not many places in Canada are. Most alternatives could be looked at as major downgrades.

@thealexray said:

Game development seems like the worlds worst job if you aren't a single twenty-something. Hey everybody, pack up all your stuff and leave the home you lived in for years. Hope you didn't have any family or friends or had kids or significant others in school in the area or owned any property we needed to go sponge off of the government over here.

Not to mention the crunch time. Game developer kids & spouses don't get to see their fathers/husbands (I'd say "parents" if the gender ratios weren't so skewed) for months at a time.

As a kid born on the Rock and raised in the GTA I'm going to go ahead and say the city is a shit hole. I haven't been to many other "big" cities, but I feel incredibly uncomfortable whenever I'm downtown, which is more than I like due to family. I was just leaving the Eaton's Center when that big shooting went down in the food court, which further cemented my resolve to stay the fuck OUT.

Also, I'm not trying to be racist, but I feel like the amount of "diversity" in the city is less and less an attribute and more a downfall. It's getting to the point where the only place I hear English being spoken is in my own house. Trying to order a double double from Tim's is like pulling fucking teeth. Outlying areas of the city are the worst, though. I don't know how I feel about driving down the street and being entirely unable to pick out the English on 3/4 of the signage on store fronts and God forbid you're looking for French.

Hopefully Toronto will pick must of them up. Never good when studios shut.

@Peanut: Maybe you should move to the USA, like Arizona or something. We freaking hate immigrants here, and people are trying to get laws passed that will force everyone to speak American.

Vancouver used to be the Canadian Mecca of game development. Now it seems every studio in Vancouver is either closing down or moving elsewhere. Has the tax breaks deal in British Columbia run out or something? I know Quebec still offers some form of aid to video game studios and only recently has Ontario started doing something similar (Ubisoft Toronto).

compared to most cities, Toronto is pretty nice. but Oakville is not Toronto, it is a boring waspy suburb of Toronto.

and the weather in southern Ontario is lousy compared to the weather in Vancouver.

Vancouver is more expensive than Toronto, though, and has/had a big drug problem.

I bitch about the weather and the shitty hockey team that still sells out every game, making tickets unaffordable, but I still like it here.

Max Payne 3 was boss.

Oakville? Enjoy the QEW traffic.

I dunno what's going on here (in Vancouver). It feels like we're getting taxed to death on everything. The differential in gas prices (just under $1.40 a liter almost everywhere in the GVA for the last few weeks, the most expensive in the country) is attributable to taxes. My property taxes have been going up exponentially over the last 4 or 5 years (on track to be higher than my mortgage payments in another 5 years at this rate). The HST introduction means they're now charging full sales tax on things that were previously PST-exempt, so more provincial taxes there (I have many old/new side-by-side grocery receipts that prove this, so a pre-emptive "you're dead wrong, so fuck off" to anyone arguing against me on this point, I'm tired of you people).

I lived in Toronto, and I chose to leave over a decade ago to come here. I like it much better here, all around, and I wouldn't go back. So I try to limit my complaining, but I just can't help noticing that things are getting a little rough around the edges here, with huge tax increases across the board, and less and less to show for it.

@umdesch4: your cash is going to entice other types of business to set up shop here (international manufacturing/resource extraction).

@Rasgueado said:

@umdesch4: your cash is going to entice other types of business to set up shop here (international manufacturing/resource extraction).

Yeah, probably that, and I guess still trying to pay off the winter olympics related debts, and the ever increasing costs of having most provincial and municipal services being contracted out to union shops. What a way to run a place! No wonder it's so hard to find BC budgetary breakdown documents online. I suspect they'd make the occasional outrageous budget "factoid" the media reports on pale in comparison.

Max Payne 3. Game of the year for me, hands down.

@simian said:

Thanks dumbass BC residents for voting to get rid of HST.

No

Canada.

Max Payne 3 was great, and this is coming from a die hard fan of the first two. Everyone's complaints just makes it sound like people can't handle a challenging game anymore, it's a real pity.

@Little_Socrates: Are you referring to the song "Tears" in the Airport level? Because if you are, fuck you! That part was awesome.

@CounterShock: That part was one of the most unbalanced and unfun things I've ever had to do in a video game. Not nearly enough cover, too many layers of dudes (on two floors!) and just endless diving back and forth to make it work. For some reason I finished that game, and I'm kind of mad I did it. It's not that I'm not up for a challenge; there's just a difference between an engaging encounter and one that doesn't work. If Max Payne 3 had grenades in the single player, I think I'd like that game SIGNIFICANTLY better. The developers designed so many encounters that would be reasonable if you had grenades that it was a travesty you never got your hands on them.

As for the song itself, it's a good song that sounds exactly like everything else on the soundtrack with vocals on top. If your feelings on the soundtrack are "it's pretty good," that part is not gonna wow anybody. I'd been expecting a significant change of pace in the music or the use of a really well-known classic. When you're expecting "Ain't No Sunshine" to rear its ugly head, another goddamned indie rock song doesn't really cut it.

As a Vancouverite I can say: not many will make the move

@Groundings said:

This news sucks for all the Vancourver employees

No doubt. Stay in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with a laid back west coast feel or move to ick Toronto...Easy choice imo.

@simian said:

Thanks dumbass BC residents for voting to get rid of HST.

Lol so R* can continue to syphon off our tax dollars by way of sweetheart deduction credits? No thanks, Ontario is welcome to take over subsidizing Max Payne 4. I'll take my tax cut thanks... dumbass.

@kwang2000 said:

@Peanut: Maybe you should move to the USA, like Arizona or something. We freaking hate immigrants here, and people are trying to get laws passed that will force everyone to speak American.

Do you good sir mean to say English and not American? As to speak American is quite impossible. Ha Ha Ha Ha Now to go back to enjoying a delicious cup of the finest earl grey and crumpets.

@Scratch said:

Vancouver used to be the Canadian Mecca of game development. Now it seems every studio in Vancouver is either closing down or moving elsewhere. Has the tax breaks deal in British Columbia run out or something? I know Quebec still offers some form of aid to video game studios and only recently has Ontario started doing something similar (Ubisoft Toronto).

It's not that the BC tax breaks ran out, rather it's Ontario and Quebec bending over backwards to try to stimulate their economy/employment rate. Both provinces have recently increased their subsidies to game developers dramatically in hopes to hitch their wagon to the industry. BC's economy is currently much more stable than the east, so unemployment is not nearly as big a boogeyman here, meaning the public has much less of an appetite to continue this subsidy "arms race" for relatively few decent paying jobs.

We still have EA though.

@Aegon said:

@SockemJetpack said:

It's no big deal. You didn't want to live near the ocean where the winters are mild and the local hockey team is competent. You want to move here to Ontario! Where the summers are scorching, the winters are brutal and the local hockey team hasn't made the playoffs since 2004.

Welcome to paradise.

*sigh*

Toronto, man...just...ugh

Werd. The East Coast thinks Toronto is the land of dreams. Then I moved here. This city is pretty gimp, in a sort of lovable pat-on-the-head kinda way.

And yeah...hopefully relocation is a viable option for the employees.

Oakville is such a beautiful area. Well, the area where my relatives live. The suburbs near Sheridan are fucking some of the most beautiful suburbs I have ever seen. So peaceful and nature-filled.

Well, at least it's not just another total jobless closure; I know they'd be committed to GTA 5 right now but please think about a return to Bully.    PLEASE, I easily have more interest in this series than any other, even GTA; and we're right in a good time with enough having past by and not too much that gamers have forgotten about it.

Everyone knows Vancouver's a better city than Toronto. That said, considering I'm a Torontonian, I can't help but feel special.

@MikeGosot said:

So... What about Bully 2? >:

but you know if they make a bully 2 they will change one thing and the internet will spend the next year crying that its not a proper bully game cos they changed that one thing and its ruined.

@ArmedBear said:

I smell copious amounts of poutine in this deal.

is there even poutine in toronto?

@Bell_End said:

@MikeGosot said:

So... What about Bully 2? >:

but you know if they make a bully 2 they will change one thing and the internet will spend the next year crying that its not a proper bully game cos they changed that one thing and its ruined.

So fucking true...

People are still crying about Max Payne's difficulty, hilarious.

@myslead said:

@ArmedBear said:

I smell copious amounts of poutine in this deal.

is there even poutine in toronto?

Of course! You can't be this close to Quebec without learning to love it.

Hope everyone from Rockstar Vancouver lands on their feet.

@TrackZero said:

@myslead said:

@ArmedBear said:

I smell copious amounts of poutine in this deal.

is there even poutine in toronto?

Of course! You can't be this close to Quebec without learning to love it.

I'm from Montréal and had no idea ahah

Huh. Well, I was going to be sad, but I guess it looks like this is all working out for the best. Most people get to keep their jobs, and Rockstar's studio(s) get a shiny new office. Alright.

@myslead said:

@TrackZero said:

@myslead said:

@ArmedBear said:

I smell copious amounts of poutine in this deal.

is there even poutine in toronto?

Of course! You can't be this close to Quebec without learning to love it.

I'm from Montréal and had no idea ahah

i was at this awesome burger and pizza joint in Toronto not too long ago and apparently they make one hell of a poutine.

@Bell_End said:

@MikeGosot said:

So... What about Bully 2? >:

but you know if they make a bully 2 they will change one thing and the internet will spend the next year crying that its not a proper bully game cos they changed that one thing and its ruined.

So fucking true...

@Bell_End said:

@MikeGosot said:

So... What about Bully 2? >:

but you know if they make a bully 2 they will change one thing and the internet will spend the next year crying that its not a proper bully game cos they changed that one thing and its ruined.

So fucking true...

Don't bother with finishing Max Payne. It doesn't get that interesting. A couple of decent shootouts in the end , but this definitely isn't a great game in my opinion.