Video game developer opening office in Calgary

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — While Calgary is traditionally known as an oil town, it may soon become a base for video games as well.

New World Interactive, a video game developer known for acclaimed titles such as ‘Insurgency’ and ‘Day of Infamy’, will be opening an office in Calgary this spring.

“We were really overwhelmed by the amount the opportunities and warm welcome that we received in Calgary,” said Marketing Director Jonathan Higgins.

New World Interactive was originally founded in 2010 and gained fame with the release of the tactical first-person shooter ‘Insurgency’ in 2014. They followed it up with the Second World War FPS ‘Day of Infamy‘ in 2016, and have seen a rise in popularity with the release of their latest title ‘Insurgency: Sandstorm’ in 2018. All of the titles are on PC, while ‘Insurgency: Sandstorm’ is slated for console release this year.

The studio will be known as New World North and is set to open on May 15th.

Higgins told 660 NEWS that there were many reasons they were attracted to Calgary in their worldwide search for a new studio.

“Really high quality of life — which is super important for our team members. Really favourable business environment and support network. Calgary Economic Development have been fantastic.”

At the start, New World North will handle post-release content for ‘Insurgency: Sandstorm’ as well as customer support, with bigger plans in the future.

“In the future, we plan for Calgary to become our main development hub on all future projects,” said Higgins. “Over the coming years, it will also serve as the main development hub for an upcoming, unannounced title. Unfortunately, I can’t say a great deal about that yet.”

This is also great news for aspiring developers in the city, as dozens of jobs will be opening up.

“Including programming, level design, animation, marketing, community support, and many others. Ideally, we’re looking for candidates with a background in Unreal Engine 4 and previous industry experience,” Higgins added. “We’ve seen so many opportunities to grow and help foster the next generation of developers here in Calgary, that it was the ideal location for our next office.”

Job fairs will also be held to attract talent and anybody else interested in joining their team.

Along with development, New World will be looking to do more to grow the gaming scene in the city, with more details to come from that in the future.

“Our goal is to really make Calgary a hotbed for the video game industry.”