"This is the very first time in my life that I have come to a studio that was just newly acquired, given a speech to everyone, and then have everyone applaud."
- Yannis Mallat, Ubisoft Montreal chief executive, describes his first meeting with the THQ Montreal team.
On visiting the ex-THQ Montreal headquarters, Mallat says that his new employees were more than happy to receive him. "It was a very sincere reaction," he notes. "Maybe it was due to the fact that we at Ubisoft are a very humane company and we were talking to the people in a very fair way and are very approachable."
He continued, "Today I asked people from the HR department at Ubisoft to come over and spend some time with the guys here so they can ask any questions they may have. It's fair to say that the people here are pretty happy and that everything went well and hands were shaken and it's just great."
For now, Ubisoft is looking to assess what was happening at THQ Montreal prior to the purchase, and decide where to go next with it -- although it had previously stated that the future of South Park: The Stick of Truth is safe.
"We're entering a phase where we're going into a more thorough analysis of everything here," Mallat added, "and in the coming weeks we'll make up a plan for continuing operations with this new studio."
Notably, Mallat also mentioned Patrice Desilets, the former Ubisoft creative director who left the company in 2010 to join THQ Montreal, noting that he is "very happy to look forward to working with him again." However, he later added that it is too early to say whether Desilets will be part of the Ubisoft, giving mixed signals on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time director's future with the company.
It's Montreal, what else could we have expected? :) It's a great acquisition for Ubisoft. We are looking forward to see Cartman doing AoE fart in the Stick of Truth... :)
