Electronic Arts is to create 300 new jobs at its European Customer Experience Centre of Excellence, which will be the focal point of the company’s strategy to serve gamers on a worldwide basis.
The news comes less than a year after EA subsidiary BioWare revealed plans to create 200 jobs in Galway to serve the launch of new MMO (massively multiplayer online) games like Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origin, and Wrath of Heroes.
IDA Ireland CEO Barry O’Leary said that the new facility in Galway will take on responsibility for delivering high quality multilingual customer experiences for a broad range of EA titles.
EA has more than 220m registered players and operates in 75 countries.
The new centre will provide multilingual international customer support and services for EA’s major game titles, including Battlefield, FIFA Football, The Sims, Madden NFL and Mass Effect.
The new video games arena
“In today’s fast-moving digital environment, we need to engage with our worldwide customer base on a 24/7 basis, across all of EA’s games and services and in multiple languages,” EA’s chief operating officer Peter Moore said.
“Galway’s mix of technology infrastructure and talent availability, combined with a pro-business environment, will help us expand on our existing foundation here. We’re proud to be part of Ireland’s growth into cutting-edge digital industries.”
Ireland’s Taoiseach Enda Kenny, TD, welcomed the news, saying: “It is less than a year since I attended the opening of the EA facility in Galway, and I am delighted to announce today that EA has made the decision to invest further in Ireland by locating their strategically important customer experience centre here.
“This decision is a real endorsement of Ireland’s ability to meet the needs of leading multinational companies in the digital media space. I wish EA every success with this new centre and offer the continued support of the Irish Government as the company continues to develop here,” Kenny said.
Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said digital games jobs form a key part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth.
“Recently I announced the establishment of a new industry-led group to drive the creation of 2,500 extra jobs in the sector by 2014.
“Today’s announcement that EA, a dynamic and world-leading company in this sector, is creating a further 300 jobs so soon after investing in Ireland for the first time is great news and shows very clearly the enormous potential of this high-growth industry,” Bruton said.
Video gamer image via Shutterstock
