Their visit in Québec City is part of their association with Artisan Studios and the release, in fall 2018, of the video game SUPER NEPTUNIA™ RPG on PLAYSTATION®4 and NINTENDO SWITCH™ in North America and Europe. Developed by the studio in Québec City, it is the first time that the game is produced by a Western company and includes French texts. The game gives life to the characters from the parodic series Neptunia in a whole new way. Each character was drawn by hand by Tsunako, the main artist of the series, before being animated through the magic of digital media.
“Artisan Studios is a specialist in the creation of 2D RPG games whose mission is to create the highest quality 2D games studio in the world and become the top western studio developing AAA IPs in Japan. Artisan primarily works in partnership with Japanese developers and publishers in order to release titles for the Japanese market and then bring those IPs to the west. The multicultural team at Artisan works in fluent Japanese, French, and English,” said Mario Rizzo.
In this context, Québec International wished to take advantage of this visit to make a presentation on the region’s economy regarding the video games industry, especially in collaboration with Arts numériques et divertissement interactif (ANDI). As such, Carl Viel emphasized that the organization is a privileged partner in the realization of investment projects, whether it is for establishing a new business in the area, realizing a development project for a specific subsidiary or assisting companies and industries in their business development. He added that video game company Artisan Studios, resident at the incubator and accelerator LE CAMP in Québec when it first arrived, benefited from an exceptional environment to plan its relocation and operations in the area
“Thanks to the softlanding service offered by LE CAMP, Artisan Studios was able to take advantage of the ecosystem dynamics in the industry of digital arts and interactive entertainment in the area, perfect its understanding of our entrepreneurial culture, and work with our experts to make informed decisions and take adequate actions to facilitate its integration. We are happy to see that today, over a dozen employees from France, the United States and the area have joined the studio, enriching Québec City’s ecosystem,” said Carl Viel.
With an investment of $1.5 million to support the relocation in Canada in the first year, Mario Rizzo drew a positive report of the company since its arrival in Québec City. He also used the opportunity to highlight the exceptional support from partners such as the Ville de Québec, Investissement Québec, La Caisse Desjardins de Québec, and Québec International in the achievement of this project.
The studio, created in 2016 by a small team in Paris, France, announced in August 2017 its relocation in the region. In conclusion, Artisan Studios found in Québec City a nice place for its team to live in, and a place where businesses are supported in their growth. With eight new employees from France, a total of fourteen new residents made the Québec City area their home.
