Montréal, September 1, 2009 – The Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade, Clément Gignac, announced today—in the presence of Trond Arne Aas, CEO of Funcom, Ole Schreiner, Chief Executive Officer of Funcom Canada and Chief Operating Officer of Funcom, and Jacques Daoust, President and Chief Executive Officer of Investissement Québec—that the Norwegian company Funcom will set up a facility in Québec.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Funcom will open a new studio in Montréal specializing in the development and publishing of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games. The company will shift a number of key employees in order to build a strong development team.

Recruitment has already started and Funcom Canada expects to hire 100 to 150 employees in the next 18 months, including 20 in R&D. A workforce of this magnitude represents an estimated payroll of CDN$6 to $7 million yearly. Opening the new studio will also require significant investments in infrastructure and start-up expenses.

“With close to 6,000 employees in the sector, Montréal has become the Canadian capital of video game production and one of the industry’s fastest growing hubs worldwide. The initiatives by our government to implement training programs for the sector highlight our commitment to train qualified workers and support the phenomenal growth of the video game industry,” declared Minister Gignac.

Funcom was approached three years ago by Investissement Québec. In July 2008, Minister Bachand and Jacques Daoust, President and CEO of Investissement Québec, took advantage of a trip to London to meet with Funcom directors and point out the advantages offered by Québec.

One of the factors that motivated Funcom to set up a studio in Montréal was the partnership with the Québec government, specifically for the training of qualified workers. And industry specialists look favourably on the ability of Québec companies to operate in several languages, their close collaboration with Hollywood studios (more than 50 titles have been produced in the past two years), and unique tax benefits such as the tax credit for the production of multimedia titles.

“We’re extremely pleased to welcome Funcom to Québec. Above all else, creative talent and imagination are what make Québec and Montréal a focal point for the arts, technologies and new media. Our talented labour force, competitive operating costs and the support of our government have made us an industry leader and attracted key players like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, A2M, Eidos, Activision (Beenox) and Airborne Mobile,” asserted Minister Gignac.

Founded in 1993, Funcom now has 320 employees at its facilities in Norway, China, Switzerland and the US. Regarded as one of the foremost independent MMO development and publishing studios, the company received critical acclaim following the launch on Age of Conan and Anarchy Online.

Funcom has been listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange since 2005.

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