Square Enix announces new Eidos-Sherbrooke studio
The newly created R&D studio will be remote, with premises not due to open until early 2021
Square Enix and Eidos-Montreal have announced the launch of a new studio, Eidos-Sherbrooke, which will focus on research and development.
Sherbrooke is located in Quebec, Canada, with the newly created studio set to focus on "exploring, testing and applying new technologies to create the video games of tomorrow," the announcement said.
Eidos-Sherbrooke is to open this fall, with 20 full-time employees and a target of around 100 staff within five years. It will start its activities remotely, with premises not due to open until early 2021.
"More than two years ago, real reflection began on the new vision for Eidos-Montreal, and the creation of this new regional chapter is closely linked to it," commented Eidos-Montreal's head of studio David Anfossi. "We wanted to continue our controlled growth and keep people and technology at the heart of this vision. The opening of this new expert studio will provide tools for content developers to enrich the experience and immersion of players. The proximity to Montreal, renowned universities and the quality of life found in Sherbrooke are criteria that contributed to the final choice."
The studio will be headed by Julien Bouvrais, CTO of Eidos-Montreal and now head of studio for Eidos-Sherbrooke.
"Sherbrooke is an innovative city in our image," he said. "It offers all the opportunities to develop professionally and personally, while taking advantage of the technological potential of the city. With the universities of Sherbrooke and Bishop's offering cutting-edge programs in computer science and programming, the region seems to us a great place for continuing to develop our fields of expertise."
Among the studio's areas of interest will be cloud computing, real-time geo-morphing, voxel-based raytracing and multi-node game engines. Eidos-Sherbrooke has already planned to carry out some projects in collaboration with the University of Sherbrooke.
The studio is hiring, with the announcement highlighting that it's mainly looking for programmers at this stage.