The most recent edition of the Ubisoft Game Lab Competition successfully came to a close last April with 166 university students from across Quebec developing 21 video game prototypes in 10 weeks, supported by 42 Ubisoft mentors. The Competition is an integral part of Ubisoft’s efforts to support a next generation of video game developers that is more diverse than ever.
Each year, teams that participate in this unique-in-Canada competition have the opportunity to win eight different awards and a total of $22,000 in scholarships, which is all in addition to Ubisoft’s commitment to offer a minimum of 10 internships or jobs among all participants. This year, 31 students and graduates joined our studios in Montreal, Québec City and Saguenay.
Pierre-Olivier Rioux is a Programming Project Lead on the Far Cry brand at Ubisoft Montréal and this year, he invited four Competition participants to join his team.
The new university recruits are bright, enthusiastic and very competent at their level, especially because they have had access to a host of free resources, such as game engines, for years. Those who have gone through the Game Lab Competition stand out even more for their passion for video game development, their willingness to apply it to real-world projects, and their determination: qualities that are essential to succeed in this competition as well as in our industry.
Since the beginning of the Game Lab Competition, the number of women participants has been on the rise, reaching 30% in 2021 from 18% in 2011. This year, 36% of all the positions awarded to participants were filled by young women who have made their mark in the Competition; at the Montreal studio, this number climbs to 42%. One of these new employees is Sophie Raudrant, a master’s student in Computer Engineering with a concentration in video games at Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and a new gameplay programmer intern on Pierre-Olivier’s team.
I always knew I was going to work in video games one day. When I decided to become a computer engineer, I thought it would probably be more fun to code a video game than a more standard project. And my internship proves me right! As soon as I arrived in the studio, I was accompanied on a technical level, of course, but also on a human level: exchanging with colleagues who share my interests in technology contributes to my learning as well as to the pleasure of doing my work every day.
Welcome to Sophie and the other 30 recruits from Game Lab Competition! Ubisoft’s three Quebec studios are happy and proud to be able to count on your talent, your openness and your creativity, not to mention your unique and diverse ways of seeing the world and contributing to the success of your new teams.
