Blackbird Interactive to open new gaming studio in False Creek Flats

The South Flatz office building at 565 Great Northern Way in the False Creek Flats, Vancouver. (PCI Development Corp.)

Blackbird Interactive plans to quadruple its office footprint at a new office building being constructed at the False Creek Flats, an emerging tech hub.

The Vancouver-based gaming studio will expand into a 28,000-sq-ft space at the new South Flatz office building – at 565 Great Northern Way – and turn it into its new corporate headquarters.

The building, adjacent to the new Emily Carr University of Art & Design campus, is being developed by PCI Developments Corp. and is one of several buildings planned for the immediate area. It will have 160,000-sq-ft of office space over seven storeys and is located right next to the location of a future station of the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension.

The South Flatz office building at 565 Great Northern Way in the False Creek Flats, Vancouver. (PCI Development Corp.)

Currently, the company is located in a 9,000-sq-ft nearby space on Great Northern Way, but it needs additional space urgently for its growing workforce. Over the interim, until the new building is complete and ready for occupation in late-2018, Blackbird Interactive is opening a temporary 10,000-sq-ft satellite space in Mount Pleasant.

Blackbird Interactive intends on retaining its existing space on Great Northern Way after it expands into its new space at South Flatz.

The company says its workforce has doubled in size over the last 18 months, and it will surpass 100 employees by January 2018.

By the time it is ready to move into the new building, Blackbird Interactive’s workforce will grow to 160 people. The new additional space provides the studio with the capacity to reach up to 300 employees over the next five years.

“It blows my mind to think how far we’ve come. Blackbird is blessed with some very special people. It is their talent and hard work that has made this growth possible,” said Rob Cunningham, CEO of Blackbird Interactive, in a statement.

“They deserve the very best workplace we can create and in this awesome city, finding studio space is a huge challenge. Fortunately for us, we’ve been tenants of the Great Northern Way Campus since day one of its spectacular development, and are positioned perfectly to make the most of it. The timing is uncanny though, I can’t explain that part!”

Founded in 2007, Blackbird Interactive was created by former employees of SEGA-owned Relic Entertainment and Electronic Arts Canada. The company says its current projects are top secret, but its known recent works include Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak and Project Eagle, which is a collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Over the longer term, the City of Vancouver plans to redevelop the southwest corner of the False Creek Flats – near the corner of Main Street and Terminal Avenue – into a creative and tech campus.

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