BioWare Ireland Opens To Support Star Wars: The Old Republic

BioWare and parent company Electronic Arts today announced the opening of BioWare Ireland, a new state-of-the-art facility that will serve as a global customer service center for upcoming MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. Originally revealed over a year ago, and located in Galway, Ireland, the facility will employ 400 people to serve as customer service for BioWare's highly-anticipated Star Wars title, to be released in December, just in time for Christmas. The company had said previously that 200 people would be employed at the facility -- however, it revealed today that an extra 200 would be employed on top of this. This is the first time a BioWare facility has been built outside of North America. EA already has a presence in Ireland, following its acquisition of PopCap earlier this year. Dr. Ray Muzyka, EA senior vice president of the BioWare Label, explained, "MMO launches are complex, and we are determined to set a new standard for a high quality, stable, smooth launch for our fans." "Our new BioWare facility and team in Galway is critical to ensuring we deliver on that goal. We’ve got a solid base of people here already in Galway." Ireland Taoiseach Enda Kenny added, "I very much welcome EA and BioWare’s decision to locate its customer service center here in Galway and the additional 200 jobs announced today." "The Programme for Government highlights the digital game industry as a particular priority area for growth and the presence here of EA, one of the world's leading interactive games companies, will help enhance our status as a center for the digital media sector."