Ubisoft Toronto

• 1. A Studio Unlike Any Other

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  Ubisoft Toronto opened its doors in September 2010, born from an unusual promise: unlike every other Ubisoft studio in the world, it would be allowed to lead its own games from day one. Most new Ubisoft outposts spend years supporting the mothership in Montreal before earning that right. Toronto skipped that queue entirely.

  The studio grew out of a government deal and a corporate gamble. In July 2009, Ubisoft announced plans to plant roots in Toronto, with Ontario committing to invest over ten years toward the creation of up to 800 jobs. By September of that year, Jade Raymond, a veteran of Ubisoft Montreal who had helped shape the original Assassin's Creed, was placed in charge of bringing it to life.

  Raymond brought her colleagues with her. Most of the studio's founding staff transferred from Montreal, carrying experience, relationships, and unfinished ambitions. The first project was already decided: a new entry in the Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. Alexandre Parizeau joined as producer and Maxime Beland as creative director, both arriving specifically for that project. Both would be recognized as co-founders of the studio alongside Raymond.

  Before a single game shipped, Ubisoft Toronto had already received more than 2,000 job applications by May 2010. The studio operated from a converted General Electric building in the Junction Triangle neighborhood of Toronto, a fitting home for an industrial-scale creative enterprise.

• 2. Building the Headcount

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  By March 2012, Ubisoft Toronto had grown to 200 employees. Eighteen months later, in September 2013, that number had climbed to 300. The pace of hiring was matched by the volume of interest: by September 2013, the studio had received 30,000 applications and conducted 1,800 job interviews.

  In September 2012, the studio added an internal performance capture studio to its facilities. The technology placed Ubisoft Toronto among the handful of Canadian game developers capable of producing cinematic-grade motion capture in-house, a resource that would matter enormously for a franchise built around stealthy, story-driven gameplay.

  By July 2017, the studio's headcount had reached 600 staff members. That growth happened across a span of roughly seven years, tracking the studio's expansion from a single-project launch team into one of the larger Ubisoft outposts globally. The trajectory from 200 to 600 employees ran alongside the studio's shift from finishing its debut title to developing multiple projects simultaneously.

• 3. Splinter Cell and Starlink

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  Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist shipped in August 2013, the studio's debut as lead developer, and it arrived to critical success. The release was the payoff for years of construction, hiring, and motion capture work under Jade Raymond's direction. Raymond left the studio shortly after, and Alexandre Parizeau stepped up as general manager.

  Under Parizeau, Ubisoft Toronto began developing its first original intellectual property. By July 2015, the project was confirmed to be in progress, though its identity remained undisclosed. It was later revealed as Starlink: Battle for Atlas, an action-adventure game with optional toys-to-life integration. The game launched in 2018 as the studio's first wholly owned IP.

  The studio's games list through the decade grew considerably beyond those two titles. Far Cry 5, developed in collaboration with Ubisoft Montreal, shipped in 2018. Watch Dogs: Legion followed in 2020, with the studio also producing the expansion Bloodline in 2021. Far Cry 6 came in 2021, accompanied by the expansion Lost Between Worlds in 2022. In addition to leading those projects, the studio spent years contributing to other Ubisoft productions including Assassin's Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, Far Cry Primal, Watch Dogs 2, For Honor, and several others.

• 4. MeToo and Leadership Turnover

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  Near the end of June 2020, a wave of misconduct accusations swept across the video game industry, and Ubisoft Toronto was not spared. Over one hundred employees of the studio signed a letter to general manager Alexandre Parizeau, reporting concerns about sexual misconduct and the failure of management and human resources to act on prior reports.

  Ubisoft said it had investigated the reports. In the case of the Toronto studio, the company asked studio co-founder Maxime Beland to resign. Some employees who spoke to Kotaku described the situation as extending beyond Beland, saying there were additional problems at the studio and that they were still watching for signs of broader change from both Toronto leadership and Ubisoft as a whole.

  Parizeau left the company in February 2021. Istvan Tajnay, who had previously served as managing director for Ubisoft Berlin, replaced him. Tajnay held the role for roughly two years before departing in July 2023. Darryl Long, formerly managing director for both Ubisoft Winnipeg and Ubisoft Singapore, took over as studio head.

• 5. Remakes and Reductions

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  In December 2021, Ubisoft Toronto announced it was developing a remake of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, the 2002 original. Reports about the project had surfaced earlier, in October of that year. The announcement brought the studio back to the franchise that had defined its founding years, now tasked with rebuilding it from the ground up.

  In June 2024, the studio was also assigned to assist Ubisoft Montreal on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake. That same month, 33 employees were let go as part of what the company described as a targeted realignment to ensure the studio could deliver on its roadmap. A second round of layoffs followed in February 2026, when 40 more employees were cut.

  The reductions placed Ubisoft Toronto alongside a broader pattern of contraction across the games industry in the mid-2020s, even as the studio maintained an ambitious slate of projects under Darryl Long's leadership.

• 6. The NEXT Competition

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  Since 2018, Ubisoft Toronto has run an annual competition called Ubisoft Toronto NEXT, aimed at post-secondary students and recent graduates. Each year, participants complete submissions relevant to specific job categories, from 3D art and animation to programming, level design, and user interface design. Winners in each category receive an internship at the studio.

  As of the 2025 competition, 95 students have won internships through the program. Winners have come from Sheridan College, Centennial College, Durham College, the University of Toronto, Ontario Tech University, George Brown College, McMaster University, York University, Western University, the University of Waterloo, Toronto Metropolitan University, Carleton University, and others. The 2025 competition added categories including event scripting, technical animation, and visual effects, reflecting shifts in the skills the studio was actively recruiting.

  The program has run continuously since 2018, providing a consistent pipeline between Ontario's post-secondary game design programs and one of the country's largest game studios. The 2025 VFX category winner, Reyhan Ismail, came from York University, joining a long list of graduates who moved from campus competitions directly into professional game production.