Patrice Desilets bringing three 'key members' from Ubisoft to THQ Montreal
"I trust him ... basically it's all about trust and support," THQ's "Core Games" head Danny Bilson told us in an interview this morning, speaking about soon-to-be THQ Montreal studio head Patrice Désilets. Bilson was detailing the hiring of "key members" for Désilets' team, something he briefly mentioned during a stage presentation that kicked off the company's NYC "gamer's week" today. He wanted to reiterate that THQ Montreal is entirely in Désilets trusted hands.
When we pressed Bilson for more info on the new hires, he couldn't name anyone specific, though he would confirm all three people are from Ubisoft. "I don't think I can talk about the other three people we've already contracted because I wouldn't ... I just know Patrice said, 'I need these three guys.' And I said 'Okay! Whatever you need!'," Bilson said. "We put all of them on retention and got them started on their non-competes [non-compete clauses]. I kind of know what their roles are, but they were the most important people to Patrice. All three of them are Ubi."
Which isn't to say that Désilets is doing anything nefarious. Bilson assured us that the forthcoming hires will be, "not just Ubi, but people from the community in Montreal and all over the world." And none of this is happening just yet. Désilets doesn't start at THQ until May 29 ("when his non-compete ends"), so it'll be quite some time before we see the fruits of THQ's largest studio yet.
