Ubisoft Quebec
Ubisoft Quebec was announced on 11 April 2005, and was effectively opened 2 June 2005. In June 2008, Ubisoft Quebec ramped up its computer-generated imagery business to work on movies in conjunction with Guillemot. The unit was closed down again with the foundation of Ubisoft Motion Pictures in May 2011. On 3 November 2011, Ubisoft acquired a Quebec City-based development division of Longtail Studios, of which 48 employees were merged into Ubisoft Quebec, while 6–7, including the division's manager, departed.
Ubisoft
In the early 1980s, they saw that the costs of buying computers and software from a French supplier was more expensive than buying the same materials in the United Kingdom and shipping to France, and came upon the idea of a mail-order business around computers and software. Their mother said they could start their own business this way as long as they managed it themselves and equally split its shares between the five of them. Their first business was Guillemot Informatique, founded in 1984. They originally only sold through mail order, but soon were getting orders from French retailers, since they were able to undercut other suppliers by up to 50% of the cost of new titles. By 1986, this company was earning about 40 million French francs. In 1985, the brothers established Guillemot Corporation for similar distribution of computer hardware. As demand continued, the brothers recognised that video game software was becoming a lucrative property, and decided that they needed to get into the development side of the industry, already having insight on the publication and distribution side. On 12 March 1986, the brothers founded Ubi Soft (formally, Ubi Soft Entertainment S.A.) in Carentoir, a village located in the Morbihan department in Brittany. The name "Ubi Soft" was selected to represent "ubiquitous" software.