Ubisoft’s Canadian offices dominate E3 with quality and quantity

After two days of keynote presentations at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, there has been one company whose name seems to keep popping up: Ubisoft. And it appears that the developer's Canadian studios played a big role in helping it get there.

In addition to hosting their own keynote on June 4, where Ubisoft announced a number of titles including Just Dance 4, Avengers: Battle for Earth and Rayman Legends, Ubisoft made appearances in all three of the console makers' presentations, too.

As if a major presence in all of the other presentations wasn't enough (they announced eight new titles for Nintendo's Wii U alone), they also debuted at their own keynote a brand new game which many are already calling the game of the show.

Watch Dogs is being touted as a mix between Deus Ex and Grand Theft Auto, in which players can hack just about anything they pass to achieve their objectives as a spy. The game, which is rumoured to be in development for both current and next-generation consoles, closed Ubisoft's presentation with a bang:

You can watch the stunning gameplay demonstrated by Ubisoft here.

But Watch Dogs isn't just a win for the French company. It's also an example of some of the tremendous work coming out of Ubisoft's Canadian offices. Ubisoft Montreal, the developer's oldest Canadian office, is behind the title, and will be another notch in the belt of the people responsible for many of Ubisoft recent and upcoming blockbusters.

In addition to Watch Dogs, Ubisoft Montreal presented two more highly anticipated sequels at E3. Both Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 3 are being developed in Montreal. Gamespot currently ranks them as the two most anticipated games of E3.

Ubisoft Montreal currently employs about 2100 people, plus approximately another 400 in other parts of Quebec. In an interview with Venture Beat, Ubisoft Montreal chief Yannis Mallet said that part of Ubisoft Montreal's long-term strategy has been growing their talent base, and as a result, they've come to E3 with what Mallet calls "the strongest E3 lineup ever for Ubisoft Montreal." The latest Assassin's Creed game, arguably Ubisoft Montreal's biggest franchise, involved over 500 developers across Ubisoft's worldwide offices, with most of the core elements being developed in Quebec.

Jade Raymond, one of the individuals behind the original Assassin's Creed, left the franchise in 2010 to lead Ubisoft's newest Canadian office in Toronto. In another major milestone for Ubisoft in Canada, it has been announced that Ubisoft Toronto's first game will be the latest installment in the popular Splinter Cell series.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Black List will help Ubisoft put the $230 million in Ontario tax incentives to good use, helping to create the 800 jobs Ubisoft plans to have at its Toronto office by 2020. The Toronto office currently has 230 employees.

With E3 continuing until June 8, there's still a chance that other game companies could come forward and outshine what Ubisoft has shown so far. But with all the big announcements now behind us, it will be tough to show up what hundreds of dedicated Canadian Ubisoft employees have contributed to the biggest gaming expo of 2012.

For all the latest gaming news this week, check out our E3 2012 page.