A CMA who has mastered his game

Your name is Harlan Bishop. You move cautiously into an empty performance hall with your machine gun in hand. Along with the Rainbow team, your mission is to save Vegas from merciless terrorists... Of course Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is a video game where everything is just an illusion. But behind every scene, situation and character, there can be as many as 150 game developers and one producer: Éric Lajeunesse, CMA.

An entertaining world, a serious industry
Although it may surprise you, this is not fiction.  Hired by Ubisoft ten years ago as payroll and subsidy manager, Éric Lajeunesse, CMA, is now a respected producer in the video entertainment industry. “It is really fun to create a game. Unlike film, where we are only spectators, players are right in the heat of the action. They make decisions based on the situation they face.”

Is the world of video games young and bohemian? Looking at Éric Lajeunesse in his jeans, tee-shirt and hooded sweatshirt, you might be tempted to think so. But he confirms it with a smile. “The way we dress and live our lives, we look like university students.” Although the average age of the 1,800 employees of the Montreal office of Ubisoft is 30, it is certainly not just fun and games at the third largest independent video game publisher in the world, outside Asia, posting sales of €928 million in 2007-2008.

In this fast-growing and fiercely competitive industry, education and experience give a hefty advantage to those who have them. With his CMA designation, solid ideas and forthrightness, Éric Lajeunesse was able to use his assets to go from one level of difficulty to the next and keep climbing at Ubisoft. Did he expect to climb so high? “When I began at Ubisoft, I planned to stay there two years and then go somewhere else,” he recalls.

An idea that crosses the ocean
When he was 25, Éric Lajeunesse had acquired most of his experience in the construction industry as assistant controller. When looking for a job, he landed somewhat by chance at the Montreal office of  multinational Ubisoft. A fan of video games since childhood, he was definitely attracted to the field, but he had no intention of making it part of his career plan!

In 1998, the Montreal office of Ubisoft had only been open for a year, and had 250 employees. A world of possibilities was theirs to take. With his bachelor’s degree in accounting, Éric Lajeunesse was first responsible for implementing a payroll system and searching for subsidies. It did not take long for him to want to go further. “I had CMA training, so I wanted to use my understanding of the way companies are organized and operate to make constructive suggestions.”

In reality, payroll and subsidy management alone would not satisfy him for long, driven as he was by his need for analysis and creativity. “I do not like pure accounting. If I was in a rubber boot factory, I would want to see how I could improve the boots and cut the cost of their production.” Driven by this desire to contribute to the development of his company by using his CMA competencies, Éric Lajeunesse created a new budget system.

“At that time, Ubisoft operated according to subsidiary and resource-based budgets, which can be explained by the fact that the various Ubisoft subsidiaries generally produced one game at a time.” Since the Montreal subsidiary began to grow unexpectedly and therefore started to produce many games at the same time, this young man had the bright idea of asking producers to explain to him how a project works and, using that information, setting up a project management control system. This wonderful achievement was so well received locally that the headquarters in France used it as the basis for redesigning the company’s entire budget system.

A CMA on the “other side”
Because of his curious and observant nature, Éric Lajeunesse took advantage of the experience of his management controller duties to find out about the inner workings of video game production. And the inevitable happened, he was tempted to “go to the dark side of production” he says while laughing. “I am a manager, I love management, I wanted to give it a try.” But without any training in graphic arts, art or even computer science, what was a CMA able to bring to game production?

“Producers come from various backgrounds. Not all of them are necessarily project managers. I was able to help them.” Five years after he began to work at Ubisoft, Éric Lajeunesse was promoted to Assistant Producer in 2004. The Montreal building, located on Saint Laurent Boulevard, then became – and still is – the largest production centre of the multinational, with around twenty projects running simultaneously.

Four years later, Éric Lajeunesse now holds the prestigious producer’s jacket. “Although I do not fully understand all of the creative and technical aspects, I have mastered the other fundamental aspects, including the budget and management of deliverables. As for the quality of the animation, programming and design, I really trust my team of employees responsible for each of these facets.”

So the CMA has become a leader. His role, as he explains, is somewhat comparable to that of Bob Gainey, the famous General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens. Éric’s team, which had only five employees at the design stage, later grew to 150 to 200 at the production stage, which can take two years. “A project is done by the group. I am there to ensure that the time and financial limits are respected, but also to support my team. I am not afraid of asking questions or showing that I don’t know everything. My management philosophy is to act like a reasonable person and analyze the work of employees as if I still had to learn everything.”

Éric Lajeunesse is currently working on a new project that he cannot discuss. A state secret! Obviously, he likes the stress associated with creativity and the pride he feels about the result, after months of demanding collaborative efforts. Barely in his mid-thirties, the producer also hopes there will be new challenges that will let him use more of his management accounting skills.

In fact, the world of video games is changing and trying to develop its clientele. That is why Ubisoft now produces games for women, the general public and serious gamers, while striving continuously to improve the technology and image quality. “Montreal is in a great position to create and develop new products. About fifteen years ago, Softimage, a Montreal company, impressed the whole world by producing images of the film Jurassic Park. Then Montreal attracted Ubisoft and several other companies like EA Montréal, Eidos Montréal and Activision Québec, followed.

“It makes sense: Montreal artists and programmers have excellent training, many even move from Europe to earn their living here, the governments offer good subsidy programs and Montreal is a nice city to set up an office.” Result: the Montreal video game industry has become a safe bet in the last 10 years.

In such a context, Éric Lajeunesse believes he will be able to take full advantage of his CMA training and production experience to participate in the future of video games. Seated at a desk around which his team works, he sees himself, maybe in a few years, doing analyses, conducting follow-up studies and solving complex problems to help his company improve its performance and reinforce its position in the competitive international market. Fact or fiction? The game has only begun for Éric Lajeunesse…

The other side of Éric Lajeunesse…

If I had all the money in the world…

I would create a video game design company, but in the Tropics! Or maybe I would sell umbrellas there!

Success means…

Being satisfied with what I achieve and being recognized by my peers.

I cannot stand …

Political correctness, which not only dictates political discourse but also our social and professional behavior. Knowing how to speak and hear the truth means being comfortable with yourself.

Money is…

Vital, important for eating and entertaining yourself, but it is not an end in itself.

I could have been…

A policeman, hockey player or an architect, but I couldn’t ask for more than what I am.