EA Gets Government Help To Train Quebec Employees

Officials from Electronic Arts have announced that the company is planning to spend $2.6 million to train current and future staff at its Montreal offices, with $660,000 worth of help coming directly from the Quebec government. The company opened its Montreal studio in March 2004, and currently employs 100 people at the offices. Several hundred more are expected to be recruited over the next three years, and it's for these that a significant amount of the training fund has been earmarked. Michelle Courchesne, Quebec minister of employment and social solidarity, said at a news conference that some 2,000 people in the Montreal region work on video game production. EA has a history of gaining financial and tax support from government sources, and many states in the U.S. (most notably Florida and the recently storm-stricken Louisiana) are now actively encouraging large developer studios with financial incentives.