Presenting our 2008 survey of one of the world's strongest regions for game development, Montreal >>
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Think of Montreal and your mind may turn to the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival or the Canadian Grand Prix, but the city has plenty of tricks up its sleeve, not least the ability to foster enough knowhow and creativity to produce four of the biggest-selling games of 2007: Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six: Vegas 2, Army Of Two and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2.

Offering the kind of economic incentives that would put a Tory investor’s offshore haven to shame, Montreal has changed beyond recognition in the last ten years, at least in terms of its game development scene. With tax breaks of up to 37.5 per cent, digital media companies are increasingly flocking to the area. Ironically – and it’s a point of much amusement among the Brits working at the company – Eidos’ fabulously appointed new studio is located in the Gordon Brown building in the downtown area of the city.

But to say that tax breaks alone built the game economy here would be a gross oversimplification. As you’ll discover in this edition of Region Specific, creativity, style and technical excellence inform and influence all aspects of Montreal life, and that is reflected not just in the quantity of the games produced here, but in their quality.