Fallout 4’s success leads publisher Bethesda to open Montreal office

Fallout 4 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim creator Bethesda Game Studios said it has opened a new development studio in Montreal to focus on console, PC, and mobile games.

The Rockville, Maryland.-based Bethesda, a division of ZeniMax Media, has been riding high, as the November 10 launch of Fallout 4 has been a big hit. The company said it has shipped in more than 12 million copies and it is replenishing stock.

Coincidentally, Bethesda tapped local Montreal studio Behaviour Interactive to create the surprise mobile game hit Fallout Shelter, which debuted this summer and briefly overtook Candy Crush Saga as one of the top-grossing mobile games. Fallout Shelter showed that hardcore game brands can generate big audiences on mobile devices, which “mobile first” titles like Machine Zone’s Game of War have dominated.

Canada offers considerable tax incentives for video game companies, and it has a total of 472 active game studios, according to a 2015 survey by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada. That number is up 143 studios from 2013. These companies contribute $3 billion to the Canadian gross domestic product, counting both direct, indirect, and induced jobs (those created by the industry’s own business). That’s up 31 percent from 2013. The companies employ 20,400 full-time employees, up 24 percent from two years ago.

Quebec itself has more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in games.

“We’ve worked with some very talented developers in Montreal for a long time, and decided it was time to open a studio there,” said Todd Howard, game director and executive producer at Bethesda Game Studios, in a statement. “It’s exciting to think about the new games we’ll be building together.”

Bethesda Game Studios Montreal already has a core team of more than 40 developers, spanning both console and mobile development. Industry veteran Yves Lachance, previously of Behavior Interactive, will be its studio director.

“Our collaboration with Bethesda Game Studios has been an exhilarating and memorable journey already,” said Lachance, in a statement. “We are thrilled to be launching the studio in Montreal and contributing our city’s great game-making talent to the kind of games that Bethesda Game Studios is known for.”