Eidos Montreal to Double in Size by 2015

No doubt spurred by the positive buzz that has surrounded Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the last several months and the massive amount of anticipation that’s built up around Thief 4, Square Enix plans to expand Eidos Montreal from 330 employees to 680 employees by the end of 2015. Of course, that’s all contingent on the Quebec government granting them the “generous” tax credits they’re after:

Square Enix reportedly decided to expand the 330-employee Deus Ex: Human Revolution development house, rather than create a new studio in Ontario or British Columbia, thanks in part to Quebec’s generous tax credits, which cover nearly 40 percent of production costs.

The expansion would make Square Enix Montreal’s third-largest game developer, behind Ubisoft’s 2100 local employees and EA’s 800 Montreal workers.

Eidos Montreal was established in 2007 with former Ubisoft exec Stephane D’Astous at the helm. In a Gamasutra interview at that time, D’Astous said he didn’t want the studio to “be a jack of all trades,” but rather the best studio for “developing AAA next-gen titles with smaller teams and longer production schedules.”

If your goal is to develop AAA games with smaller teams, doesn’t it seem counter-intuitive to expand to 680 employees?