Jade’s Empire
Eight months pregnant with her first daughter, Jade Raymond received a call from her boss requesting she come to work for a meeting. “I knew that Ubisoft was establishing a new studio in Toronto, but I never imagined they would offer me the chance to run it,” she says. “I always thought eventually I would like to start my own studio, but presumed it would be farther down the line. So yes, the offer came as something of a shock.” That was two years ago, time that Raymond has spent assembling a team of over 200 staff, many of whom joined her in the move from Ubisoft Montreal to work on the new studio’s first announced project, Splinter Cell. For some women, pregnancy is an opportunity to press pause on a career. But for Raymond, childbearing has only served to heighten her passion towards her vocation. As we sit down to talk in San Francisco, she’s six months pregnant with her second child. Nevertheless, her opening, impassioned call to arms for developers to find new meaning in games belies that fact just as effectively as her slender frame. “It’s time for our industry to grow up,” she says, in a quiet but determined voice. “Why is it that so many topics that are dealt with in other media are off limits or taboo in video games? Why can’t we deal with the things that matter? I can think of so many examples of topics that could be interesting, issues that could be addressed in games or that could be integrated into existing big IP if we don’t want to make them the centre of the experience. It’s our responsibility; doubly so for people like me who can make a difference, or push for something getting funded.” Read more…
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