Major new video games employer checks out sites in city

Date Published: 17-Jun-2010

By Dara Bradley

Senior executives from international games leader Electronic Arts (EA) were in Galway City this week viewing premises that would be suitable for the European customer service and operations centre for EA’s subsidiary BioWare.

The multinational giant announced last month that it was setting up operations in Galway with the creation of 200 jobs, which will be in place within seven months.

Dr Ray Muzyka, senior vice president of EA and group general manager of BioWare, said the new Galway location for BioWare will help the company get closer to its fans in Europe.

IDA media and public relations manager Thomas McEvoy said the company has hired a local estate agent to find a suitable location for the operation and a number of buildings have been shortlisted. It will be in the city centre or in one of the industrial parks in the suburbs with a building of up to 30,000 sq ft required.

It is understood the IDA had been inundated with requests from property owners who offered their buildings for rent to the company but the sourcing of a property is being conducted by the company’s estate agents.

It is likely the company will rent a smaller office space on a short-term lease to house the initial team of senior staff and managers who will be recruited first. They will be in place by the end of the summer and among their first task will be the overall recruitment of staff.

The building is expected to be sourced and ‘pinned-down’ by September, when it will be fully fitted out and officially opened in October. The full operation, with 200 employees, is due to be up and running by January.

The IDA has been trying to woo EA to Ireland for the best part of 20 years. The project came about following the growth of their online business, which was as a result of the BioWare acquisition in 2008.

The company creates computer, handheld and console video games. Among its most successful games are Jade Empire, Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune