New hope for Quebec video game developers struggling to find work
'I started my studio in 2014 and there was maybe 30 studios at the time,' he says. 'Now we're about at 350 studios in Quebec.'
Today Chancey is the general manager of Indie Asylum, a hub of independent video game studios operating in Montreal's Mile-End neighbourhood.
He says that, despite the industry's growth, it's not always easy to find work, especially since the province announced cuts to multi-media tax credits last year.
'Right now, because of the economic climate, tariffs, there's less investment in video games because everyone's a little tighter. the interest rates are up, and now this tax credit getting cut, well obviously people are not hiring,' he says. 'The tax credits that independent studios would receive are been chopped by 40 to 60 per cent, depending on the size of the studio. So that leads to more challenges to be able to make longer games or to hire more staff.'
The job market is especially tough for junior developers. A few weeks ago, Indie Asylum started curating a job board for the Quebec gaming industry on the popular chat platform Discord.
Chancey says staff collect all the current job offers in the field, both Quebec-based jobs, and jobs that can be done remotely. It creates a one-stop shop for those searching specifically for postings within the video game industry.
So far, more than 1,800 people have joined the Discord channel.
'It's been extremely positive. Our Discord server doubled in size since we have announced this, which speaks to the issue, and we are having some testimonials now with people that are getting interviews and so on,' says Chancey. 'So it's fun to see that there's an actual impact.'
Chancey says they can do this because Indie Asylum gets funding from the City of Montreal and the province.
According to the Quebec Video Game Guild, there are currently 15,000 jobs in Quebec's videogame industry, and that is expected to remain steady in the coming year.
'The trend we're seeing is relative stability in headcount due to lateral movement within the workforce, despite cuts at certain studios,' says the Guild's head of communications and operations, Emilien Roscanu.
'Some production cycles are ending, which is leading to reorganizations; at the same time, several mid-sized and large studios are still actively hiring for various projects, so we expect this stability to continue this year.'
The future is more uncertain for junior developers.
'The market remains competitive for more senior talent but very difficult for junior talent,' Roscanu adds. 'We have 1000 juniors coming out of universities and colleges each year in video games, but few of them can find jobs unfortunately. Economic uncertainty, tax credits cuts and lack of new funding are all contributing to this outlook.'
Chancey is hopeful, noting some companies have already reached out to Indie Asylum directly with job postings. He adds that in the next phase of the project, they'll survey members of the job board to see how many people were able to secure a job offer.
'Sometimes it just takes someone to give momentum to a project and then people kind of organize themselves. So we're just supporting in the background right now and people are kind of gelling together and trying to help each other out,' he says.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
National Post
9 minutes ago
- National Post
Objectway Accelerates Its Growth Path Through an Investment From Cinven in Partnership With Its Founder Luigi Marciano and the Existing Management Team
Article content The majority investment marks the start of a new phase of growth for Objectway, leveraging its resilient and scalable business model, its end-to-end solution-as-a-service platform, and long-term partnerships with a blue-chip customer base. Article content LONDON & MILAN — Luigi Marciano, founder of Objectway, a leading provider of software and services to financial institutions across Europe, North America and the Middle East, along with Objectway's management team and international private equity firm, Cinven, today announced an agreement under which Cinven will make a majority investment in Objectway. Luigi Marciano will remain a significant shareholder alongside Cinven, and continue in his role as CEO and Chair. He and his existing management team will continue to manage the business, and Cinven's backing will provide strategic and financial support, including continued investment in technology innovation, as well as support for future organic growth and targeted M&A opportunities. Together, Luigi Marciano, his team and Cinven aim to expand Objectway's market leadership while delivering consistently high value to clients. Financial terms of the investment are not disclosed. Article content Article content Objectway is a leading digital end-to-end 'Solution-as-a-Service' provider for wealth managers, banks and asset managers. Objectway provides customers with a mission-critical, modular, front-to-back office software and solutions platform, delivered through a flexible design based on scalable cloud infrastructure. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Milan, Objectway supports more than 250 financial institutions across more than 16 countries. With offices across Europe and North America, Objectway combines mission-critical technology and services with deep domain expertise. Article content The wealth management ecosystem is exhibiting consistent growth and strong demand for investment in modern technology solutions from established providers, presenting opportunities to digitise the industry and capture market share. Industry trends include the need to transition from fragmented legacy systems to integrated end-to-end solutions that create efficiency in front-to-back office processes, serving clients consistently, across the value chain, geographies, and investor segments. Article content Cinven believes that Objectway is a compelling primary investment opportunity based on a number of attractive characteristics, including its: Article content Well-established position in a structurally growing market: Outsourced technology and tech-enabled services spend across the wealth management, banking and asset management industries is expected to grow strongly, driven by increasing regulatory complexity, customer demand for digital solutions, and the continued focus of customers on protecting margins; Differentiated offering: Objectway has a differentiated end-to-end front, middle and back-office platform offering across a wide-spectrum of wealth management customer types. Objectway has consistently been selected by many of the world's wealth managers, private banks, asset managers and asset services as their digital wealth platform for its thoughtful and innovative product roadmap, which integrates client feedback, regulatory requirements, technological advancements, and evolving market dynamics; Attractive and resilient business model: Objectway has highly recurring revenues and earnings visibility and strong cash flow generation, driven by its blue-chip customer base and growing 'Solution-as-a-Service' delivery model; Multiple further growth and value creation levers: With Cinven's financial and strategic support, there are significant further growth opportunities for the business, including through organic growth, targeted M&A, and accelerated investment into the technology platform; and Strong founder-led management team: Opportunity to partner with a strong and experienced management team led by its founder, CEO and Chair, Luigi Marciano, for the next stage of the company's growth. Article content This transaction represents the first investment from Cinven's new mid-market strategy. The European mid-market is an investment space where Cinven has deep expertise and networks to draw on, particularly in areas aligned with the firm's core geographic and sector strengths, including across technology and tech-enabled services, financial services and business services. Article content Luigi Marciano, CEO, Chair and founder of Objectway said: Article content 'Partnering with Cinven marks an exciting new chapter for Objectway. Their investment is a strong endorsement of our business model, our leadership team, and our long-term growth plan. Together, we're well-positioned to accelerate our expansion, further strengthen our market position, accelerate the enhancement of our platform, and continue delivering exceptional value to our customers and to the market.' Article content Luigi Sbrozzi, Partner and Co-Head of the Strategic Funds at Cinven said: Article content 'We believe that Cinven makes an excellent partner to help Luigi Marciano and the wider management team achieve their bold growth ambitions. Cinven has a wealth of experience in the financial services and technology sectors, and a successful track record of partnering with exceptional management teams to create market leading businesses by investing for growth, including through tech-led innovation and buy and build strategies. We're thrilled to back such a strong founder and management team to grow Objectway as a clear category leader, and look forward to working together to accelerate growth, broaden capabilities, and support global expansion.' Article content Advisors to Objectway on the transaction included Houlihan Lokey as financial advisor and Deloitte for strategic consulting on the business plan, as well as financial, commercial, and technical due diligence. PwC advised on tax and legal due diligence. Giovannelli Associati acted as the legal advisor and Russo De Rosa Associati as the tax advisor. Cinven was advised by Jefferies (M&A), Freshfields (Legal), PwC (Financial), Alix Partners (Technology & Operations), Oliver Wyman (Commercial) and Deloitte (Tax and Structuring). The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Article content About Objectway Article content For more than 30 years, Objectway has been building successful partnerships with banking, asset and wealth management firms to empower and scale their business with a broader societal objective: preserve capital and improve the financial wellbeing of their clients. Objectway offers a leading as-a-service growth platform for banks, wealth & asset managers and their investors. The Objectway platform provides these financial institutions with superior scalability for greater performance to empower their entire value chain. Objectway's end-to-end solution design allows its customers to be serviced consistently within both a local and international setting, underpinned by 24-7 secure infrastructure. As a global Top 100 FinTech provider (IDC FinTech Rankings), Objectway administers more than €1 trillion of assets and supports more than 100,000 investment professionals (financial advisers, private bankers, relationship managers) to manage more than €800 billion of asset under management for more than 5 million investors. FY 2024 revenue exceeded €120 million and clients include more than 250 leading banks, wealth managers, asset managers and insurers across Europe, the Middle East and Canada. Objectway has a global organisation including more than 800 business and technology professionals, with operating offices in Italy, the UK, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, France, Ireland, and Canada. Objectway's flexible solution design addresses global and regional organisation structures across jurisdictions. Scale generates scale through expansion across customers, geographies and along the value chain. Article content About Cinven Article content Cinven is a leading international private equity firm focused on building world-class global and European companies. Its funds invest in six key sectors: Business Services, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, Industrials and Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT). Cinven has offices in London, New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Guernsey and Luxembourg. Cinven takes a responsible approach towards its portfolio companies, their employees, suppliers, local communities, the environment and society. Cinven Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Cinven Fund Management S.à r.l. is authorised and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. In this press release 'Cinven' means, depending on the context, any of or collectively, Cinven Holdings Guernsey Limited, Cinven Partnership LLP, and their respective Associates (as defined in the Companies Act 2006) and/or funds managed or advised by any of the foregoing. For additional information on Cinven please visit and Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content Contact – Objectway Article content Article content Chiara Giudici Article content Article content Communication Manager Article content Article content +39 393 8229579 Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Marketing Team (Objectway) Article content Article content mktg@ Article content Contact – Cinven Article content Article content Clare Bradshaw Article content Article content Tel. +44 (0)7881 918 967 Article content Article content Email. Article content Article content
Globe and Mail
39 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Toyota reports a 37% drop in profit, cuts its forecast due to Trump's tariffs
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota's profit plunged 37% in the April-June quarter, the company said Thursday, cutting its full year earnings forecasts largely because of President Donald Trump's tariffs. The Japanese automaker said it based its report on the assumption that Trump's tariffs on exports from Japan, including autos, would be 12.5% starting this month. As of now they stand at 15%. The world's top automaker also makes vehicles in Mexico and Canada. Toyota's profit in the last quarter totaled 841 billion yen, or $5.7 billion, down from 1.33 trillion yen in the same period the year before. Its quarterly sales rose 3%. The status of those exports is unclear since Mexico and Canada are beneficiaries of the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, renegotiated from a 1990s pact during Trump's first term in office, that eliminated most tariffs and trade barriers between the three countries. Toyota Motor Corp.'s April-June profit totaled 841 billion yen ($5.7 billion), down from 1.33 trillion yen in the same period of 2024. Quarterly sales rose 3% to 12 trillion yen ($82 billion). Toyota said the tariffs cost its quarterly operating profit 450 billion yen ($3 billion). Cost reduction efforts and the negative impact of an unfavorable exchange rate also hurt its bottom line. The company, which makes the Camry sedan and Lexus luxury models, forecast a 2.66 trillion yen ($18 billion) profit for the full fiscal year ending in March 2026, down from an earlier forecast for a 3.1 trillion yen ($21 billion) profit. Toyota earned nearly 4.8 trillion yen in the previous fiscal year. 'Despite a challenging external environment, we have continued to make comprehensive investments, as well as improvements such as increased unit sales, cost reductions and expanded value chain profits,' Toyota said in a statement that outlined its efforts to minimize the impact of the tariffs. At the retail level, Toyota sold 2.4 million vehicles globally, with sales growing in Japan, North America and Europe from the previous year, when global retail totaled 2.2 million vehicles. Analysts say Toyota is likely among the worst hit by the tariffs among global companies, even compared with other Japanese automakers.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Developer and housing researcher debate foreign investment in B.C. real estate
Retired UBC geographer David Ley is one of the 27 signatories of a letter sent to the prime minister taking a stance against foreign investment in housing in B.C. On the other hand, Cressey Development Group is a signatory of an open letter asking for restrictions on foreign investment to be lifted. Ley and Cressey's executive vice-president Hani Lammam join us on On The Coast to debate which approach is better.
