NOVEMBER 2008 - Gaming firm creates 400 jobs in Dublin

The gaming sector in Ireland got a boost this week when GOA, mobile operator Orange's online games unit, announced it was to set up a customer and operations support centre in Dublin's Digital Hub, and create 400 jobs. GOA specialises in so-called massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG). These are online computer role-playing games (RPG) in which a large number of players interact in a virtual world. Perhaps the most well-known MMORPG is World of Warcraft, which has over 11 million monthly subscribers. GOA has a contract with online games developer Mythic Entertainment to support the upcoming game Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR). GOA's office in Dublin will primarily support Warhammer Online.

Separately, Dublin-based PopCap Games, a developer and publisher of casual games, has launched a new installment of its flagship franchise, Bejeweled. Called Bejeweled Twist, the new game will initially be available via web download from www.popcap.com and PopCap has confirmed that local language versions of the game will also follow. Bejeweled has proven to be widely successful for PopCap Games: over 25 million copies have been sold across all platforms.