Guillaume Provost

During development, it is common to support your team in a role that you originally didn't intend to have. In our current project Lady Umbrella, I dedicated some of my spare time to the production and implementation of particle VFXs. It was a great opportunity to learn how Unreal's Niagara System worked. Since I'm a Technical Designer, art has never been my main focus, and I need to find little excuses to tinker with its systems. The following is an electric bullet VFX that uses particle collisions to create electric arcs with the scenery. The number, length and color of the arcs is parametrized, and the whole effect is very efficient as it is mostly computed in the GPU.

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GTA 6 comes out November 19, 2026 I have been thinking about what that actually means for the industry The last few years have been rough with layoffs everywhere and studios shutting down... Last November was apparently the worst month for console sales since 1995. All because people are holding off, waiting for one game Analysts at Ampere Analysis estimated GTA 6s delay alone pulled $2.7 billion out of global gaming revenue in 2025. 1 game. I work in games and honestly I think that number tells a story bigger than just money This industry needs a big moment. Something that reminds people outside our bubble why games matter and why studios are worth investing in and why the medium can still surprise the world Rockstar Games does not release games often, but when they do, the culture changes I am genuinely excited for November and I am even more excited to see what it opens up for everyone building games in the years after it

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Over just a few months, Meta, Netflix, Ubisoft and Xbox have all closed studios and laid off thousands of talented people. Developers with passion and expertise. As I see it, this is yet another indicator that the speculative bubble of the early 2020s has certainly deflated, taking with it many talented developers. While very different teams, Ubisoft, Xbox, Netflix, and Meta's woes have their origins in individual shared decisions and a wider market recalibration. Ubisoft's issues come down to budget overruns brought on by unwieldy large studios, complex multi departmental bureaucracies, and series fatigue. Annualized series are not making the returns they once did, and the advantages of re-using assets and game systems haven't yielded the same cost saving advantages. At the same time a number of big bets have fizzled in a world were players are overwhelmed with choice. Quality can no longer be guaranteed. After bloated development cycles that can no longer be maintained, mixed score titles are being released left and right. Xbox is no longer a major player in the "console wars." While I was never a fan of the term, it seems Microsoft has given up competing with Nintendo and Sony on selling hardware, even going so far as giving up exclusives. Xbox X sales are flatlining due to an unclear value proposition. Developing games and funding exclusives no longer provides a clear advantage in the new Game Pass era. The $69 Billion (nice) purchase of Activision can recoup itself in a decade or two, born on the back of COD IAPs and Candy Crush fans, but until then it's a massive hole in their pocketbook. Regular premium COD releases no longer have the same cultural cashet as they once did, making it unclear how they will meaningfully improve the value add of Gamepass (if that was even worth the price of acquisition to begin with). Netflix and Meta lacked clear strategies going into the decade. Speculative hype was rampant across the industry, and both sides have sunk millions into founding studios with the goal of building value through games. With hindsight we can see that this was a mistake. VR is still a tiny niche that hasn't meaningfully increased over time. Few use Netflix's game services, and most don't understand how it works. Both also attempted to produce premium titles, Netflix ended up selling it's MMO Spirit Crossing back to the devs, while Meta's first party titles did not generate profit. The future of 2026 will see more layoffs and closures, especially for the non gaming companies that dipped their toes into into the industry, and smaller teams trying to stay afloat. Throwing money and hoping it sticks is no longer a good bet, careful research is key. For those looking to navigate the industry there are some facts to keep in mind, (Continued in Comments) https://lnkd.in/gFXuxBrB https://lnkd.in/gAy7v6yw https://lnkd.in/gp39rpyk https://lnkd.in/gSrnXrzv

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I personally believe there's a growing zeitgeist of Canadian identity in all media, not just games, and it's both surreal yet meaningful to feel being a part of it. Whether or not the specific setting of Retroronto hampers its marketing potential to the world at large, the game and my opportunities with it would've never gotten anywhere without representing Canada's financial capital. It leaves me admittedly rather conflicted, especially after much of the meetings I had during XP Summit (of which I'm super grateful, for the time given and connections made during). I do want to thank CBC again for interviewing me at this past XP Summit, especially considering my current situation lining up with the story at large. It's given me an opportunity to deeply consider mine and my game's future, as well as the overall Canadian identity in the videogame industry and market!

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The External Development Summit (XDS) just took place in Vancouver, Canada. Here are some impressions and comments from those who attended: - At XDS, people prefer more utilitarian and concrete 30-minute meetings. They get straight to the point: your expertise, hourly rates, portfolio, and so on. Meetings in a “let’s just get to know each other” format are usually met with confusion. - If you’re a service team, preparation for the conference needs to start well in advance—sometimes even a year ahead. Research who attended last year, what they were looking for, what games are in their portfolio, etc. Start reaching out and arranging meetings early. - Coming in completely unprepared is a guaranteed road to zero efficiency. - If you’re a small freelance team or a tiny studio, XDS is probably not the right fit. Dedicated teams or vendor manager roles exist only in mid-sized and large studios, and those studios are generally looking for mid-to-large outsourcing partners. - XDS Spark—an online meeting platform for outsourcers and those looking for them—doesn’t really work. Business activity on the platform is close to zero. - The event is highly organized: comfortable meeting zones, a business lounge, no queues. - It has the atmosphere of a “tight-knit community”: many attendees have been coming for 8–10 years, creating a high level of trust and openness. - Attendees are mostly top management and outsourcing managers handling million-dollar contracts. You won’t find many juniors or random participants. - Compactness is a plus: all participants are in the same space, making it easy to bump into the right people at the afterparty or lounge. - Cost: higher than most conferences, with sponsorship packages and parties being very expensive. - Ticketing system: you can’t just “buy a ticket.” Tickets are heavily limited, especially for service providers. Applications can be denied.

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Really appreciate Vanessa Ruffra for the thoughtful questions and for putting this written interview together for Animotion. You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/ei8F8i9C We spoke about gameplay animation, how I approach workflows, and some of the things I’ve learned over the years working in animation. Hope there’s something useful in it. :)

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Sixtine Dano launched a full 2D animation tutorial available on Gumroad! I was lucky enough to have met this fantastic artist when we were both art students - trust me she always was gold! ✨ If you are interested in learning 2D animation, this is your best go to! 💯 The tutorial is in French, but subtitled in English ;) and accompagnied with a english pdf

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What are we doing here anymore? I understand "curation" isn't Valve's thing, preferring the algorithmic delivery of Steam - but this is atrocious.

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AAA veterans are leaving the biggest studios in the world because they are tired of fighting the machine to get work done. The announcement of Studio Ricochet by the founders of Gearbox Quebec is a clear signal: top-tier talent is now choosing autonomy over scale. When veterans say they want to create games on their own terms, they are usually talking about removing the operational friction that kills creativity in AAA environments. The hiring trenches reveal what this friction looks like on a daily basis. Many studios are still bogged down by manual processes that should have been retired a decade ago. If your lead developers are losing 5 hours every week to manual CV screening or the back and forth of interview scheduling, you are not running a lean studio. You are running a consultancy for administrative tasks. Speed is the only currency that matters when you are competing for high-calibre developers. If it takes your team 2 weeks to move a candidate from an initial application to a technical test, you have already lost. In a market where 90% of the top talent is off the table within days, your internal bureaucracy is your biggest liability. The reality of the 2026 market is that you cannot afford to be slow. Fixing this does not require hiring more people into your talent acquisition team to manage the chaos. It requires removing the human element from the tasks that do not require human creativity. Scheduling a technical test does not need a soul. Reviewing a basic CV for technical requirements can be handled by a system in seconds. Studios that continue to handle the grunt work manually are rarely focused on the game. They are focused on the paperwork. This is a choice that leads to lost talent and delayed ship dates. If you want to build a studio that operates differently than the giants, you have to stop hiring like one. Precision and speed are the only ways to protect your culture and your production timeline. The studios that will win this decade are the ones that automate the admin so their people can focus on the art.

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The CMF's investment in video games is trying to be diverse. The result? more than half of all funding goes straight to Montréal. Why? Because Montréal is already diverse, and it's much easier to meet criteria there (or in Toronto, which is also a strong winner for CMF). If CMF truly cares about diversity, they would review their criteria so that they are achievable in more remote locations. Saguenay would benefit immensely from that kind of a boost for example, but they lose out on the criteria list that naturally advantages a large city like Montréal. This is essentially doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. CMF, do better.

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This week in Montréal the industry marked two serious milestones: the launch of Montreal Games Week and the return of MIGS 25. This is not just about one conference anymore. It is about a full week of games, business, culture and collaboration. For anyone in devs, publishing or services: - Week-long events equal more chances to engage, learn and network beyond the standard format. - Multiple formats (indie showcases plus B2B plus services) signal that external development and partnerships are front of mind. - Montréal continues to hold global relevance as a place for serious industry conversation and deals. Think about how you show up in this broader industry week, not just the big call event. #GameDev #Publishing #MIGS #MontrealGames #GamingIndustry

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''Artificial intelligence now allows for rapid track creation, but it also increases the risk of fraud on music streaming platforms. Édouard Demotes-Mainard, a student at Mila, has developed an AI-based detector of fraudulent behavior for LANDR, a Montreal flagship in music creation and distribution.''

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Excited to be part of this amazing panel on AI in Gaming at PGC next week. As it happens, AI and games are both topics I like to talk about!

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The entry-level hiring freeze is creating a senior-level burnout. ⚠️ When studios stop bringing in junior talent, the "apprenticeship model" breaks. The result? Your most expensive, experienced developers are spending 40% of their time doing mid-level tasks. This bottleneck is the silent killer of AAA projects. At Game Recruiter, we help leadership teams identify where they are over-leveraging their seniors and how to strategically hire the "Just-In-Time" talent needed to clear the path. It’s about more than just filling a seat; it’s about restoring your team’s focus. Stop making your leads wear ten hats. Let’s find the right talent to take some off. #GameDev #DeveloperBurnout #TeamLeadership #RecruitmentStrategy #GameRecruiter #SeniorDevelopers #GamingNews

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Very exciting week for the Quebec game industry. Our first sale on Steam was in 2021 and it has since grown into the largest regional sale on the platform... which speaks to the depth of amazing talent and content coming out of Quebec. We also run the DemoNights showcase in parallel (starting Thursday/19th at 8pm ET), which we've been doing in some form for nearly 20 years (pre Twitch existence, it was a big industry celebration in an auditorium). Big thanks to partners Indie Asylum, La Guilde du jeu vidéo du Québec, and Loto-Québec who put in all the hard work to make it happen. Combined, these efforts are a gamechanger for many local studios, who sell more copies and/or add more wishlists than most other events/efforts throughout the year :)

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Take a look at one of the best scenes in the industry. From solo dev to Assassin's Creed, Québec makes it all.

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There was a recent(ish) article in Canada highlighting how indie studios in Canada are faced with critical coverage gaps with their insurance. To be honest, you can probably replace Canada with any country. Indie studios are usually created by people who have a passion for making games, but are not always aware of the potential risks it involves. The article says: " Smaller developers – especially those operating with lean teams and limited budgets – often struggle to find comprehensive packages that address the full spectrum of exposures they face. Cyberattacks, intellectual property disputes, and business interruption events can all hit indie studios hard, particularly when they don’t have the scale or reserves to absorb a significant loss". It also goes onto say "The industry has yet to deliver flexible, right-sized solutions for this segment – a missed opportunity given how central indie development is to Canada’s gaming ecosystem." Well. . . . I disagree. What's missing is a fundamental understanding on how games studios operate, the complex challenges they face and how to translate that into the potential risks. Which is why we see time and again, companies being categorised under "generic tech policies" which ultimately wont pay out if they need to be activated. The cost for this kind of cover for small teams isn't high, finding someone who can arrange the right cover for them can be. That's the precise reason we exist, year on year, more companies trust us to protect them and they stay with us. If you want a quick chat to go through your studios cover and what you should think about when taking out insurance. I'm here all day, every day :) https://lnkd.in/eYEAPyyk  

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Looking into getting into iGaming in Canada? The rules are changing and I'm in the trenches of so many new movements across the country. Want to know more? DM me! Canada’s New Interactive Digital Media Rules, Why iGaming Should Pay Attention On March 1, 2024, Canada quietly introduced major policy changes under the Investment Canada Act (ICA) that could reshape the future of iGaming. These new rules expand the definition of Interactive Digital Media (IDM) to include online casino games, poker, esports betting, social casino, and other interactive platforms. That means iGaming is now firmly within Canada’s “cultural business” category, triggering much lower thresholds for foreign investment review and much higher scrutiny when foreign-controlled capital is involved. Why this matters now: Ontario’s iGaming market has exploded, $200B in wagers and an $8B industry in just three years. As the sector grows, the Government of Canada is signalling it wants more Canadian control, Canadian IP, and safeguards against “hostile” foreign influence. Key takeaways for iGaming: ⚡ Lower review thresholds mean even smaller deals can trigger ICA reviews. ⚡ National security risk factors now include online chat, streaming, and in-game purchases, all common in iGaming platforms. ⚡ Canadian-first IP and governance will be critical to passing “net benefit” reviews. ⚡ Smaller studios and startups that rely on foreign funding may face new barriers unless they structure deals carefully. In an $8B market that is still expanding, these policies aren’t just a regulatory footnote, they’re a playbook shift. If you’re an operator, supplier, or investor in Canada’s iGaming ecosystem, it’s time to assess your structure, partnerships, and compliance approach before the next big move. Things are about to change! #iGaming #Canada #InvestmentCanadaAct #InteractiveDigitalMedia #OntarioGaming #CanadianTech #DigitalEconomy #casino #onlinecasino https://lnkd.in/gf8ByT8v

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