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Toronto might be Canada's biggest city, but when it comes to games development it's always played second fiddle to Montreal, its more cosmopolitan, Europe-leaning compatriot. The Ontario capital certainly isn't as pretty as its Quebec counterpart either, and as in the films of one its most famous sons David Cronenberg there's a sterility to its streets and buildings smeared with the faintest hint of something going on beneath - such as the drama that's resulted from the alleged meeting of a crack pipe, a mobile phone camera and the city's abrasive mayor Rob Ford. There's no such scandal at Ubisoft Toronto, of course, but there's definitely a sense of something bubbling under the surface as the latest addition to the French video game giant's global empire sits on the cusp of releasing Splinter Cell Blacklist, its very first game. Ubisoft Montreal, the birthplace of Assassin's Creed and in so many ways the cornerstone of the company, has led the way for so many years, and in Toronto's attitude and approach it feels there's a desire to try out new approaches, and take in new perspectives. They're in pursuit of what could be considered an oxymoron, too: Ubisoft Toronto has set out to make thoughtful blockbusters.
"When we originally moved here, we were all saying this is our studio, it's going to be our way, we're going to fix the stuff we didn't like about Montreal and we're going to take the stuff we did like and grow on that," says Maxime Beland, one of the founder members of the Toronto enterprise and an animated, energetic and charismatic presence on the open plan studio floor. "But then something really interesting happened. There was another goal, and something that really excited me about coming to a new studio wasn't a new location or a new building."
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