even established its headquarters here.

"There is always the idea that the games are in Japan or maybe on the west coast, but honestly, when we start looking at the numbers, we realize that Montreal, especially in terms of wholesale production Triple-A games, is the perfect place," said Puel.

Jack Buser, director of gaming and business development at Google, says Montreal is among the top five global cities in video game creation with Tokyo, London, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas. According to Buser, Quebec's reputation for attracting top talent and producing successful products made it a wise choice for Google's first development studio.

"It's a world-famous city that has created some of the world's most popular interactive entertainment, and we could not think of a better place to start with ourfirst triple-A studio," he said.

Puel attributes part of Montreal's success to the universities that make up the city.

McGill and Concordia universities offer a bachelor's degree in computer science focused on video games, while the Université de Montréal offers a graduate program in game design. Ubisoft and Concordia recently partnered to launch an online game design course.

"In 2003, when I arrived in Montreal, studies for game design did not exist. One had to learn by oneself," recalled Puel. "Today, we can find some of the best courses in Montreal. We have really exceptional young people here."

The new Stadia gaming service was welcomed last month by nuanced critics. The technical means behind the service, which allows phones to HDTVs to broadcast games in high quality, have been widely applauded. Its