Larian Studios, the award-winning Belgian developer of hits like Divinity: Original Sin and Divinity: Dragon Commander, officially announced its plans to establish a studio in Quebec City. Larian Québec, a subsidiary of the acclaimed developer, will begin work on new games and take advantage of the talent and creativity that abound in Quebec City. The company is currently in hiring mode and aims to employ 40 people in Quebec City over the next three years.
Larian Studios was founded in 1996 and today has over sixty employees working in its studios in Ghent, Belgium, and St. Petersburg, Russia. As an independent developer, it designs, develops, produces, and markets its RPGs, including its most recent opus, Divinity: Original Sin, a huge success with players and critics alike. Divinity has received a number of awards and honours, including PC Game of the Year from GameSpot.com. It was also declared The Bestest Best Kickstarter of 2014 by RockPaperShotgun.com.
Wanting to set up a studio in North America, Larian Studios President and Founder, Swen Vincke, set his sights on Quebec City because of the many advantages offered by the region in his sector. He noted that the project was made possible thanks to Québec International’s unwavering support for Larian’s expansion strategy, which enabled the company to quickly establish linkages with strategic business partners in Quebec City.
“We were impressed by the openness and energy of the regional stakeholders and by Quebec City’s advantages in terms of qualified workers, competitive operating costs, infrastructure, and quality of life,” said Mr. Vincke, who drew a number of parallels with the studio’s home city of Ghent, Belgium.
“We are delighted with Larian Studio’s choice, which testifies to both the attractiveness of Quebec City as a major Canadian digital arts and video game hub and the vitality of this industry as a real driving force of economic development for the region,” added Québec International’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Carl Viel.
Larian is the first international player to enjoy the soft landing service offered by Le CAMP, Quebec City's technology incubator/accelerator, a Québec International entity.
About Larian Studios
Larian Studios is an independent video game developer specializing in role playing games (RPG) and educational games for children. With over 15 games to its credit, the studio designs games for every type of platform. Its latest products include Divinity: Original Sin, Dragon Commander, Divinity Anthology, and Monkey Tales Games. For more information, visit www.larian.com.
About Québec International
Québec International contributes to the economic development of the Quebec City metropolitan region and promotes its international profile. As a regional economic development agency, Québec International fosters business growth and development, supports clusters of excellence, and attracts talent and investment to the region. For more information, visit www.quebecinternational.ca
