Gamespot is reporting that Ubisoft has teamed up with the Canadian government to launch a training school, known as the Ubisoft Campus, where the future developers will go to learn the skills of the trade. After 3 fifteen-week terms, students will be granted a degree accredited by the Quebec Ministry of Education. This appears to be mostly undergrad-level work, although there is mention of masters-level software engineering classes that will also be available.

As technological progress demands larger development teams just to keep pace, many large game companies will face problems down the road if they remain unable to find freshly graduated people with the proper training required to jump in to the game industry with no previous work experience. EA's involvement with the University of Southern California last year, and Ubisoft's latest announcement seem to be saying, "If you want it done right, gotta do it yourself."

Will students with specialized training in game development instead of a traditional degree make better game developers? Will these programs simply stamp out the future rank & file? Stay tuned...