EA opens centre in Galway
Galway wakes up this morning to news that EA, who before today have never had a presence in Ireland, are to hire 200 service representatives in the city to serve as agents for online gaming, specifically those made by BioWare (i.e. Star Wars: The Old Republic).
Welcoming today’s announcement, Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD said, “EA is the global leader in interactive entertainment and a very important addition to the thriving games industry in Ireland.”
“The new Irish location for BioWare will help us get closer to our fans in Europe,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President, EA and Group General Manager, BioWare. “Galway gives us the right mix of solid technology infrastructure and international recruitment opportunities as we continue to focus on bringing the highest quality gaming experiences to market.”
Barry O’Leary, CEO of IDA Ireland said, “EA joins a vibrant digital media sector and is a key endorsement of the skills and expertise available in Ireland for this sector.”
Not only is this a huge boost to the local and national economy, it signals Ireland as a good location for other game companies. Currently we have Activision, Havok, Intel, Vivendi and a few others. This is a good stepping stone, as we’ve now got education resources (Trinity and DIT both offer Masters’ degree’s in game development) to churn out relevant graduates to tackle games.
Now THAT is freaking awesome
Nice to see a big company like EA coming to Ireland 
Might be a job for me there someday (smirk)
JOBS HERE http://www.bioware.com/bioware_info/jobs/galway_jobs/ FIRST UP IS THE BIG HEADS I.E. MANAGERS. THOSE WITHOUT THE EXPERIENCE KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR LESSER PAID POSITIONS