Eidos Interactive, which is owned by U.K. publisher SCi Entertainment, today announced plans to set up shop in Montreal, an initiative which the Tomb Raider publisher anticipates will create 350 jobs over the next three years. The new development studio will work on "undisclosed next-generation projects."

Heading up Eidos Montreal as General Manager will be Stéphane D'Astous, who will be in charge of establishing the new studio as well as recruiting top development talent. Eidos Montreal is looking for the best and brightest talent out there and is currently inviting resumes to be sent to jobs.montreal@eidos.com.

"I'm really delighted to be joining Eidos who deserve their worldwide recognition for some fantastic games. I look forward to establishing a brand new studio that will continue this legacy and develop AAA, next-generation titles that will demonstrate once again the expertise and knowledge we have in Montreal," commented D'Astous.

"This is a really exciting time for Eidos, we are actively looking for opportunities to further our drive to become a major force in global videogames publishing. Montreal is the ideal location to open a new studio because of its thriving game development community and favorable economics," added Bill Ennis, Commercial Director, Eidos.

With talented game designers from Ubisoft, Electronic Arts and others making their presence felt in Montreal, the region has become a real hotbed of top-notch video game development. "We are very happy to welcome Eidos, the largest video games publisher in the United Kingdom to Québec. Our talented workers, competitive operating costs and the support of our government have enabled Québec to become the sector leader in Canada and attract industry's major players, like Eidos," said Raymond Bachand, the Québec Minister of Economic Development, Innovation and Export Trade.

The opening of Eidos Montreal follows two other new Eidos studios in the past year: Eidos Sweden and Eidos Studios Hungary. Eidos' other internal studios include Crystal Dynamics, IO Interactive, Pivotal Games and Beautiful Game Studios.

Currently Eidos is working on Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Crossfire and Highlander.