Gree opening video-game development studio in Vancouver

Gree is hiring game developers.

The mobile social gaming company, which originated in Japan, today (July 20) announced a new studio in Vancouver.

With plans to release its first game in the next six to eight months, Gree Canada has already begun its talent search for engineers, artists, and an executive producer.

Headed by Steve Lin, Gree Canada will be “creating new and unique free-to-play gaming experiences” according to a release. Lin recently coordinated the opening of Gree’s San Francisco studio.

“The goal for the Canadian studio is to merge the knowledge we gained from our recent successes with more experimental approaches. We want to take some risks and come up with new games and ideas that will contribute to the ongoing evolution of the mobile game space,” Lin said in the release.

”The creative community in Vancouver has made tremendous contributions to the mobile and video game industry,” added the general manager, “and we are looking forward to tapping into that talent pool and building a team of passionate innovators.”

Gree was founded in Japan in 2004 and has been aggressively expanding this year, with acquisitions of social mobile companies such as OpenFeint and Funzio.

In April, Gree made a minority investment in Vancouver’s IUGO Mobile Entertainment.