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Montreal is one of the largest game development cities in the world. EA, Bethesda, NetEase, Ubisoft, Warner Bros., Epic, Gameloft and Amazon are just some of the big companies with offices in Montreal. Many of these offices are hiring foreign workers who have moved to Canada to infiltrate the industry, but Quebec’s new language law threatens to turn everything upside down.
Bill 96 allows the government of the province of Quebec to “strengthen the use of the French language in all areas of Quebec life.” It amends Quebec’s constitution to make French “the only official language of Quebec” and essentially gives new immigrants six months to learn French. For the first six months, immigrants will receive messages in English, but after that everything will switch to French.
This is a problem for many industries in Quebec, but is especially problematic for the gaming industry. Speaking to the CBC, a game developer going by the pseudonym Remy said that English is the default language in the gaming industry and the need to learn French will make him and others consider working in other Canadian provinces.
You can already see it when some people look at Bill 96 and say, “OK, it’s time for me to pack my things and leave. People will move here, they will get stressed, and they will decide that it’s just not worth staying here.
Osama Dorias, a Montreal-based game designer who also teaches at Dawson College, also criticized Bill 96 and warned that the exodus of game developers from Montreal was just beginning.
Now these applicants will just go looking elsewhere, and I don’t blame them. It will be very difficult for us to compete globally.
Dorias told the CBC that he used to recommend his city to graduates and international students who want to get into the gaming industry, but that’s no longer the case. Many international students are already learning English as a second language, and learning French in just six months is likely to dissuade applicants from even considering the province.
We actually have a presence, a global presence as a leader in video games, and we’re throwing it all away.
Dorias added.
