Babel staff face redundancy as operations move to Montreal

Games outsource firm Babel Media is moving operations from Brighton to Montreal, and staff face relocations and redundancies.

"The market demands have dictated our move," CEO Richard Leinfellner told Develop.

"There is a brain drain in the UK while Canada is thriving, and benefiting from tax breaks that can save local studios thirty to forty per cent on production costs. So like THQ, EA, Ubisoft, Square Enix and many more, Babel is taking advantage of these initiatives already."

Babel's UK operations are currently in a consultancy period, with a large number of redundancies expected. According to the report, senior staff are already relocating to Montreal, with UK staff facing questions about whether or not they would be happy to make the move. Babel's Montreal office already has around 300 employees.

Earlier this month in a press release announcing the shift Leinfellner praised Montreal as a growing market.

"It's quite staggering to see Montreal becoming a major interactive entertainment hub in such short time, this realignment of Babel's resources reflects the cities growing "Canadian Hollywood" status."

Babel Media was founded in 1999 and its clients include Warner Bros, Nintendo and LucasArts.