Ubisoft, the game developer and publisher headquartered in Montreuil, France, is setting up shop in the Philippines.
An outgrowth of its Southeast Asian base in Singapore, the company says Ubisoft Philippines will open its doors to its international staff and the Filipino workforce in the second quarter of this year, hoping to hire as many as 50 employees within its first year.
"Every day, Filipinos leave the country in search of opportunities elsewhere," shares Ubisoft Philippines' new studio manager, Chip Go. "I was one of those people eight years ago, and now I'm very happy to come back and bring my own experience in AAA game development."
Olivier de Rotalier, Ubisoft's new managing director of Singapore, the Philippines and China, notes that before the establishment of Ubisoft Philippines, the company consistently hired a talented pool of employees from the Philippines. Opening offices in the country just made sense.
Ubisoft Philippines' studios, however, won't be located in the capital nor in any of its business districts. Rather, its offices and its staff will be located in a suburb known as Santa Rosa that is emerging as a business district just south of Manila. De Rotalier cites schools, much lesser crowding than Manila, recreational facilities such as theme parks, and close proximity to the international airport as reasons for the location of the studio.
With the peso trading 46-to-1 to the U.S. dollar, Ubisoft's international employees will command a higher standard of living on Philippine shores. Workers already sourced from within Manila, however, will receive a "competitive salary" instead since the Philippines does have lower labor costs compared to the United States and Singapore.
In five years, Ubisoft hopes to increase its Philippines-based staff from an initial batch of 50 employees to 200. In order to do so, the company is partnering up with De La Salle University in Manila to help create the nation's next set of artists, programmers, designers and project managers specializing in the $99.3 billion gaming industry. Setting up an incubator of sorts like this in the country will help the company save even more money by hiring cheaper Filipino labor, as well.
As Ubisoft Philippines is yet to officially open its door, the company also says it's still actively recruiting within the country and has posted positions on Ubisoft's Careers page.
Photo: Kuba Bożanowski | Flickr
