Tomb Raider and Deus Ex dev Eidos Montreal opens new R&D studio

Deus Ex and Tomb Raider developer Eidos Montreal has opened a new research and development studio called Eidos Sherbrooke with parent company Square Enix. 

Based in the southern Quebec city of Sherbrooke, the new opening has been described as a "regional chapter" of Eidos Montreal, and will initially be staffed by a 20-strong team before scaling up to around 100 employees over the next five years.

The fledgling studio has been tasked with supporting research and development by "exploring, testing, and applying new technologies to create the video games of tomorrow." 

"The studio will capitalize on the almost endless possibilities of new processes such as cloud computing, real-time geo-morphing, voxel-based raytracing and multi-node game engines," said Julien Bouvrais, CTO of Eidos Montreal and new head of studio at Eidos Sherbrooke.

"These technologies in a video game context will allow creating infinitely customizable, highly realistic and real-time environments, in addition to testing high-performance simulations for several users simultaneously. With our establishment in Sherbrooke, we want to offer something else, an environment and working conditions that foster creativity and innovation."

To achieve that aim, Eidos Sherbrooke will collaborate with various institutions including the University of Sherbrooke, with the pair having already planned several research and development projects.