SAVA Transmedia Opens Its Doors
Co-founder of Ubisoft Montréal and founder of EA Montréal Alain Tascan has opened the doors to his next large-scale project in Québec’s video game industry: SAVA Transmedia. The new venture is one of the first entirely independent gaming companies specializing in games for social and mobile platforms.
SAVA Transmedia aims to redefine the future of social games so that players can “connect and play on every screen”. The company’s mission is to offer gamers an unparalleled entertainment experience by combining cutting edge technology and design with the artistic vision of the best creative minds in the business. SAVA is devoted to developing innovative, quality social games for new and fast-growing platforms, including Facebook, iOS, Android and Windows Mobile.
With the establishment of the new studio, SAVA Transmedia plans to create 50 jobs within its first year of operation and aims to add a total of 200 new jobs over the next five years. SAVA Transmedia is not only a great addition to the video game industry, but to Montréal’s economic development as well.
“It is with great pride and enthusiasm that I announce the official opening of SAVA Transmedia, located in the heart of Montréal,” said Alain Tascan, President and CEO of SAVA Transmedia. “Québec is my adopted home where I have lived and built my career in the video game industry over the last 14 years. I can think of no better place to embark on this exciting new journey than in Montréal with its incredible opportunity and support for entrepreneurship and technology innovation.”
Tascan added, “The combination of social media and new mobile devices has led to the creation of a new market segment for the video game industry. The province of Québec, and Montréal in particular, rank among the world’s best in terms of video game production, and our goal at SAVA is to now make it the global hub for social gaming.”
“The opening of a new video game development studio in Montréal demonstrates once again that this city is a key global player in the entertainment software industry,” noted Raymond Bachand, Minister of Finance, Minister of Revenue and the Minister responsible for the Montreal region. “SAVA Transmedia will immediately create jobs and will also contribute to the development of local expertise in this continuously growing industry, namely in social media.”
The President of the Montréal Board of Trade Mr. Michel Leblanc was also in attendance to mark the occasion. “We welcome SAVA Transmedia to our city with a great sense of enthusiasm and today’s announcement is another example that Montréal is a global leader in the gaming industry, and in particular in this new rapidly growing social media category” said Mr. Leblanc. “Efforts to ensure our next generation of workers are generating encouraging results, with an ever growing number of graduates.”
SAVA Transmedia will start recruiting and hiring immediately. As part of its search it will be seeking talented programmers, designers and graphic artists to build the foundation of the company for the future.
“We plan to hire employees that are ready for a new adventure in the gaming industry,” stated Tascan. “I want to bring together a passionate team composed of industry veterans and young, promising talent. I encourage potential candidates to visit www.sava.com or to email us at info@sava.com for more information.”
The global social games market is estimated at nine billion dollars and should double over the next five years, reaching 20 billion dollars by 2015. From 2010 to 2015, the social games markets of China and the United States should expect annual growth of 20% and 15%, respectively, according to a study on the Future in Digital Media conducted by William & Blair Company. (The Future in Digital Media. Chicago, 2011. p.1)
Currently, there are just under 300 million previous generation gaming consoles in the market. In comparison, there are 1.6 billion social network accounts, 150 million games for Apple devices and approximately 20 million Android devices. The combination of social media and new mobile devices led to the creation of a new market segment for the video game industry, and this segment will continue to grow, again according the Future in Digital Media report.
Online gaming is increasing in popularity, specifically after the arrival of games in social networks. In 2010, 30% of Québecers online took part in games on the Internet during a given month, as compared to 21% in 2009. Gaming ranks third overall in terms of most popular entertainment sources on the Internet, behind watching videos and watching TV / listening to the radio. (CEFRIO. Divertissement en ligne : place au jeux sociaux. Montréal, 2010. p.5)
Online Québecers enjoy different types of games: 21% entertain themselves on sites dedicated to games, 11% do it on social networking sites and 9% play over a network on consoles over the Internet. (CEFRIO. Divertissement en ligne : place au jeux sociaux. Montréal, 2010. p.5)
