Former Ubisoft Halifax workers launch independent video game studio

George Greer, co-founder of besszong, sits on a video call with executive product manager Talah Al-Sharkawi while holding his son Magnus. (Source: George Greer)

While working at Ubisoft Halifax, George Greer wore a lot of hats.

He joined the video game company as an animator before moving to a technical artist role. More than a year ago, he landed a programming role, which would be his final position because the studio shut down last January.

After working with the company for seven years, Greer is staying in the video game industry, but he’s taking a different approach he hopes will foster a community in Atlantic Canada.

“If there was ever a time to start something independent in this province, now is the time,” he said.

Greer is the co-founder of besszong, a Nova Scotia-based video game studio named after his great-great-grandfather Georges Besszong, a French immigrant who came to Nova Scotia at age 16.

Ubisoft closure

With the closure of Ubisoft Halifax, Greer said there aren’t many video game studios left in the Maritimes. In 2024, Alpha Dog studios, a Microsoft-owned company based in Halifax, shut down.

“We (Ubisoft) picked up a lot of their staff and the remainder were left in the lurch,” Greer said. “The best-case scenario for those employees was to get picked up by Ubisoft and now they’re gone.”

Ubisoft — a Paris-based company known for franchises like “Assassin’s Creed” — said it closed the Halifax studio as part of an ongoing two-year process to streamline its operations. The move came a few weeks after 61 of the 71 employees at the studio formed the first Ubisoft union in North America.

Last month, CWA Canada Local 30111 negotiated a settlement between Ubisoft and the former employees.

Seeking support

Greer said besszong has taken on seven or eight former Ubisoft Halifax employees on a volunteer basis as they seek support from the Canada Media Fund or other forms of government funding. The team is currently working on a multiplayer party game.

“If (the Canada Media Fund) materializes, the development cycle will last for two years,” Greer said. “If that doesn’t materialize, we’ll push for an accelerated release and maybe have a prototype by August.

“We have to start by getting some sort of seed money. The most convenient option is to win our application with Canada Media Fund. It’s an extremely competitive competition for limited resources. We’re hopeful but we’re not staking our bets on it. The accelerated option is the more typical way games receive funding.”

As a studio based in Atlantic Canada, Greer wants to show off the region in future video games. He also wants to create a homegrown independent space that isn’t at risk of shutting down due to international pressures.

“We’re an extremely talented group of developers,” he said. “In the whole team, we have 60 years of experience.”

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