REPORTAGE
It is one of the few French tech companies that shines around the world. Ubisoft, the studio that created the video games Rayman , Assassin's Creed , The Raving Rabbids or Just Dance , is expanding. Driven by a turnover of two billion euros, up 17% last year, Ubisoft has just inaugurated in Montpellier a new state-of-the-art studio. This is further proof that French know-how in video games is undeniable and an economic boon for the region.
A studio to attract "the best talents in the world"
Impossible to miss this huge black rectangle futuristic look. Located in Castelnau-le-Lez on the outskirts of Montpellier, the new 4,500 m2 studio replaces a historic building: Ubisoft has been in the Hérault since 1994. Inside, everything has been designed to help developers and artists to create the best games in the world: silent ventilation system, wooden floors and insulated ceilings to minimize noise in the open space, relaxation room with massages, green winter garden and terraces XXL to enjoy the southern sun. It is the employees themselves who gave their ideas to create this place thought from A to Z for video games.
Staying in Montpellier, while Ubisoft is now present worldwide with 40 studios, it was obvious for the founder Yves Guillemot: "I was born in Brittany and, for me, development in regions is very important Ubisoft tries to go everywhere in France to find the best talents and allow them to work in a space that they like. And this new state-of-the-art studio "brings a talent to recruit and move the best talent in the world," says the CEO at the microphone of Europe 1.
350 jobs today, 500 in three years
In total, 350 people from 15 nationalities work in Montpellier, out of the 17,000 employed by Ubisoft worldwide (3,000 in France). In the new studio, game designers and animators have already given birth to Rayman Mini , mobile version of the adventures of the famous hero of the games of the same name, available exclusively on Apple Arcade, the video game platform Apple. The sequel: Ghost Recon: Breakpoint , which mobilized 100 people from the Montpellier studio, in collaboration with that of Paris and especially Beyond Good and Evil 2 , a game in gestation for more than ten years and that Ubisoft announces as "revolutionary".
The current employees of the studio will be joined in the next three years by 150 new employees. Because Ubisoft is recruiting with enthusiasm and the doors are wide open, says Guillaume Carmona, general manager of the Montpellier studio: "We are looking for a lot of people, including young graduates and women, we are looking for profiles of 3D animator, Specialist Specialist, Technical and Artistic Director, both junior and senior profiles ". 17 positions are already open but the places are expensive: Ubisoft Montpellier received no less than 2,400 applications last year.
The development of Ubisoft does the business of the territory that hosts it. "When Ubisoft told us about its project, we made sure to unblock 1.9 million euros to support them.This makes it possible to anchor the company on the territory of the metropolis of Montpellier and to have 150 job creation for the future, "says Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie region. This partnership of 25 years also allows to "structure a learning sector in the audiovisual and the creation of video games," she adds.