Irish Government Welcomes Investment by Leading Interactive
Entertainment Company
GENEVA, May 26, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), today announced plans to open a European
customer service and operations center for its BioWare(TM) studio, to be
based in Galway, Ireland. The new facility will provide BioWare with
greater proximity to European players. This investment is being
supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
Welcoming today's announcement, the Prime Minister of Ireland, 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."
EA will maintain its existing BioWare studio locations in Edmonton,
Montreal, Fairfax, Virginia and Austin, Texas. The new location in
Galway is expected to be up and running in 2011, starting with roughly
200 staff.
The new Irish company is a wholly owned EA subsidiary. EA has existing
European game teams based in Guildford, UK, Stockholm, Sweden,
Ingelheim, Germany, Bucharest, Romania and Madrid, Spain.
For recruitment opportunities please visit: www.bioware.com/bioware_info/jobs
About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is
a leading global interactive entertainment software company. Founded in
1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive
software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, wireless
devices and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under
four brand names: EA SPORTS(TM), EA(TM), EA Mobile(TM) and POGO(TM). In fiscal 2010,
EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold
more than one million units. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com.
More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can
be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.
EA, EA SPORTS, EA Mobile and POGO are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.
BioWare is a trademark of EA International (Studio and Publishing) Ltd.
SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.
EA Corporate Communications
Tiffany Steckler, +41 22 316 1322
tsteckler@europe.ea.com
or
IDA Ireland
Thomas McEvoy, +353 1 603 4255
Thomas.McEvoy@ida.ie
Copyright Business Wire 2010