Rockstar Games Packs Up Bags in Vancouver and Moves to Toronto
Successful gaming studio Rockstar Games is packing up its bags and heading east.
The company is shuttering its 35-employee studio on Beatty Street to consolidate operations in Toronto, where it says financial incentives from the provincial government convinced it to build a new studio there.
Ontario offers a tax credit to video developers covering uo to 37.5% of labour costs, wile BC’s equivalent program covers just 17.5%.
Rockstar isn’t necessarily firing anyone, though: all 35 employees have been offered to move to another Rockstar studio. That’s unlike Radical Entertainment, where nearly 100 workers suddenly lost their jobs last month. No studio shifting there.
Although Vancouver has inferior incentives than Ontario, on a global scale they are solid, and the city continues to be one of Canada’s hottest hubs for game developers and digital media startups.
