Grants add punch to Montreal’s game industry
Millions of dollars given to video game developers
Quebecers who buy the new Batman video game are paying a premium: Since it was created in Montreal with the help of government grants, taxpayers already foot part of the bill.
More than t wo million copies of Batman: Arkham Origins — an action-adventure game developed by U.S.owned Warner Bros. Games Montreal — went on sale globally Friday.
The price — $65 — is partly underwritten by $9 million in Quebec grants WB Games has received since coming to Montreal in 2010, as well as at least $2 million for training.
Like its competitors in Quebec’s video gaming industry, WB also benefits from significant tax credits to pay the plum salaries of its development staff.
Of the average $70,000 each developer grosses per year, more than one-third is footed by Quebec taxpayers. More than 150 staff at WB worked on the new Batman game.
At a press conference three weeks ago at WB’s Place Dupuis headquarters, Premier Pauline Marois announced the government’s latest grant — $1.5 million.
It will help create 100 new jobs at the studio, owned by California-based Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, as it spends $63 million to expand here over the next five years.
When it l aunched three years ago, WB Games got a $7.5-million Quebec government grant, the largest ever made to a video-game company here at the time.
With that, the company promised to create 300 jobs. It now has 400 employees.
The same week she came bearing gifts for WB, Marois announced $9.9 million for Ubisoft, the French-based giant best known for its popular Assassin’s Creed game. It said the money will help create 500 new jobs as it spends $373 million to expand its Mile End studio over the next seven years. By 2020, it hopes to employ 3,500 people in Quebec.
At the Batman launch Friday, WB Games studio head Martin Carrier said the new game is the culmination of three years of work to make his studio a success.
“We were four when we started and 400 now — it’s been quite explosive growth — and that’s what leads us to Batman today,” he said.
“It cost a few tens of millions to develop, plus the marketing, which is in the same sort of ballpark — I can’t give a specific number,” Carrier said.
All with a little help from Quebec taxpayers, of course.
“I think the investments that successive Quebec governments have made have really paid off,” Carrier said.
“We create jobs and we create great products here that are a calling card for Montreal around the world.”
The game is a follow-up to Batman: Arkham Asylum in 2009 and Batman: Arkham City in 2011. Those were developed in England by Rock- steady Studios, a Warner unit since 2010.
Batman: Arkham Origins is for players 12 years and older. Unlike its predecessor, it’s been designed not only for Sony PlayStation 3 and other
“We create jobs and we create great products
here.”
console use, but also for online by multiple players.
“It’s a gamble,” said Ben Mattas, the game’s senior producer. “If we’re successful with this online component, and people tell their friends to get a copy so they can play online together, that’ll drive further demand,” the Toronto native said. “It’ll mean we’ll have to print more discs — fingers crossed.”
Early online reviews of the game are mixed.
The Financial Post calls it “a success,” but chides WB Games for not making the plot — a full eight hours of story content — as cohesive as the earlier two games.
Likewise, IGN.com (Imagine Games Network) says it’s good as a combat game, but “lacks the polish and attention to detail” of its predecessors.
Besides the subsidies, the game does have some particu- larly Quebec touches. Graffiti in some scenes is reproduced (with rights paid, Carrier said) from actual Montreal graffiti.
And because the game is set on Christmas Eve, there’s plenty of snow.
There’s no Québécois-accented audio dub (the French is generic, one of seven language choices), but the packaging clearly identifies who developed the product: WB Games Montréal — with the accent.
“All this gives the game a Montreal feel,” Carrier said. “We’ve managed to integrate the city into the game.”