Ubisoft investing $507M in Splinter Cell shop
French publisher to add 800 jobs at Toronto outfit in next 10 years, hopes to replicate success of Montreal studio in the process.
Ubisoft will invest CA$500 million ($507 million USD) in its Splinter Cell studio in Toronto and add 800 new staffers over the next 10 years as a means to replicate the success of its Montreal outfit, according to a new report in Canadian newspaper Financial Post. 
Ubisoft Toronto was founded in 2009 and is presently at work on the newest Splinter Cell game, rumored to be titled Retribution. Currently, the studio boasts 210 programmers and designers, but the headcount is expected to quintuple by 2022.
In much the same way that Ubisoft moved established developers from its Paris base of operations to its studio in Montreal, the firm has also tapped veterans--like managing director Jade Raymond--to head up the new outfit.
"We are, in a way, applying the same recipe," said Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat. "We've been sending over experienced, senior people from Ubisoft Montreal as a guarantee that they immediately get traction and speed and knowledge in place so that they can recruit the best people. You can't hope to have a studio up and running in one year by just hiring junior people."
On top of Ubisoft's direct investment of a half billion dollars, the shop is receiving monetary help from the Ontario government in the form of a CA$263 million ($266 million USD) pledge spread across the next 10 years.
A new Splinter Cell title will be Ubisoft Toronto's first project. Details are thin on that game, but Raymond said earlier this year that it will explore "root themes" while also boasting "all of the action flick elements."
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