New Bioware facility creates 200 jobs in Ireland

EA and Bioware have today opened a new customer service centre in Ireland that is hoped will create as many as 200 new jobs.

The facility, Bioware’s first outside of North America, and will provide 24/7 support for the upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

It has been built in Galway with support from the Irish Government to expand the country’s digital games industry.

In announcing the new facility, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny backed the games industry as “as a particular priority area for growth”.

“The presence here of EA, one of the world’s leading interactive games companies, will help enhance our status as a centre for the digital media sector,” he said.

Bioware chief Ray Muzyka said the publisher is determined to bring a “high quality, stable, smooth launch” for the new Star Wars MMO and that the new Galway centre is “critical” to that end.

Fellow studio executive Greg Zeschuk added: “It’s exciting to bring the Galway community into the Bioware family in support of this high-priority launch.

“This project wouldn’t have been possible without the strong support from the Irish government and the strong local mix of technology infrastructure and recruitment opportunities."

The new customer support centre, which is currently recruiting, expands Ireland’s growing industry infrastructure with the likes of PopCap, Google and Facebook already situated there.