PUBG owner Krafton is opening its first Canadian AAA studio

Krafton, the South Korean video game holding company behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, is setting up what it calls its “first Canadian AAA game studio” in Montréal.

The studio, which will be named Krafton Montréal Studio, is being led by Patrik Méthé, a former game director at Ubisoft Montréal.

Méthé was best known for directing Far Cry 3, 4, 5 and New Dawn, as well as Rainbow Six Extraction.

He has already been joined by fellow Rainbow Six Extraction developers Benoit Frappier (who was production director on the game) and Frédéric Duroc (assistant game director), as well as Martin Paradis, who was most recently an advanced gameplay engineer at WB Games Montréal.

Krafton says the studio will seek to hire a further 150 people over the next three years with “key positions including animation, programming and head of HR”.

The studio’s first project will be a video game adaptation of Korean fantasy novel series The Bird that Drinks Tears, written by best-selling Korean fantasy author Yeong-do Lee.

In a statement, Krafton CEO Changhan Kim said: “We are thrilled to open our first Canadian AAA studio in Montréal, one of the world’s top cities for video game production.

“The local pool of creative and specialised talent is impressive, and we hope that many will join our team.

“Krafton Montréal Studio will be our third studio in North America, and we have found a great leader in Patrik who has extensive experience bringing franchises to new heights.”

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Méthé added: “Our team is currently made up of seasoned talents with a proven track record of successful games. We share a common goal: to deliver the finest adaptation of the novel and to provide an exceptional experience to gamers.

“As a fan of medieval fantasy since my teenage years, I’m excited to bring to life a fantasy masterpiece as an ambitious and memorable game. We couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of the Krafton family.”