THQ has appointed Dave Gatchel, who was the general manager of THQ’s Paradigm Entertainment studio, to serve as the Montreal studio’s general manager, bringing extensive industry experience to his role. Under his leadership, THQ Montreal will focus primarily on creating core games for THQ as well as providing support for games developed across THQ’s worldwide studio system. THQ expects to create jobs in several disciplines, including design, engineering, art, content and technology development, quality assurance and localization.
“Montreal’s outstanding pool of creative digital media talent and its highly regarded university system makes this the ideal location to support our future product and technology development needs,” said Steve DeCosta, THQ senior vice president, THQ Core Games, Operations and Finance. “Moreover, government support, in the form of reimbursable tax credits and other incentives, enabled Montreal to stand out as the best combination of creative talent and favorable economics of the cities we evaluated for our new studio.”
“We are focused on building hit franchises and achieving efficiencies within our studio organization and THQ Montreal will play an integral role in achieving both of these objectives,” Said Danny Bilson, THQ executive vice president, THQ Core Games. “We expect to ramp up the studio over the next several years, with our first titles targeted for release in fiscal 2013.”
“We are pleased to welcome leading videogame publisher THQ to Montreal,” said Clément Gignac, Quebec’s Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade. “THQ’s new studio represents a key investment by a premier video game developer and will create more than 400 highly-skilled jobs in Montreal’s technology sector, further enhancing our position as a leading center of creative talent and game design.”
THQ is currently evaluating locations for the new facility and expects to open the studio by mid-2010. THQ Montreal will be the company’s second fully operational development and production studio in Canada. THQ’s global system currently includes more than 1,200 people located in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia.