Big Fish Games expected to create up to 100 jobs in Cork
10 April, 2009
Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan, TD, announced jointly with Jeremy Lewis, president and chief executive officer of Big Fish Games, Inc., that the company is opening a European Headquarters at City Gate Business Park at Mahon in Cork City. Big Fish Games is the world’s leading online destination for interactive entertainment, including downloadable, community and massively multi-player online games. The new office will focus on multilingual European customer support, games testing and localisation, and is expected to create up to 100 new jobs over the next three years. Recruitment is already underway for people with localisation skills and the capability to communicate effectively with its customers, particularly in French, German and Spanish.
The Tánaiste said “Ireland has a proven ability to satisfy the needs of highly inventive and technologically advanced projects through the provision of talented people, and the infrastructure required for success. Big Fish Games’ high calibre of expertise and innovation provides another superb addition to the thriving games industry in Ireland, which has recently seen several high-profile digital media companies locate activities here. This investment once again, demonstrates that ‘Ireland is very much open for business’and is positively viewed by international investors.”
IDA Ireland worked strenuously to attract Big Fish Games to Ireland and is currently working closely with the company to assist in the rapid start-up of the operation. The new Headquarters will extend multilingual support to Big Fish Games’ international customers. The company currently distributes more than 1.5 million games per day to customers worldwide through its English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese language portals.
Jeremy Lewis, president and chief executive officer of Big Fish Games, added that the new European Headquarters will augment the quality of Big Fish Games’ international service and support already established through its multiple language portals. “Greater than 50% of our customers are outside of the United States and speak languages other than English. Our European Headquarters will further enhance our focus and commitment to providing unparallel service to our rapidly growing base of customers in these regions. Big Fish Games chose Cork because of the availability of a skilled and multilingual workforce, which we require for the development and growth of our worldwide business. We look forward to integrating into the business and social community here in Cork and rapidly becoming an employer of choice,” he said.
Big Fish Games’ European operations will be overseen by a Cork native, Oliver Coughlan, who was the former Chief Technical Officer of O2 Ireland. Mr. Coughlan’s vast sector expertise will provide Big Fish Games with a critical understanding of what is needed to successfully build a technology company in Ireland. Mr. Coughlan’s first priority is to attract talented individuals with customer support and game localisation experience.
Big Fish Games, Inc. is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA, and employs approximately 350 people. The company distributes more games worldwide than any other online site and offers visitors a rapidly expanding selection of content by launching A New Game Every Day™. On a peak day, Big Fish Games distributes more than 1.5 million titles. Big Fish Games develops and publishes games for computers and mobile devices. Big Fish Games currently has separate portals available in English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese, and 50% of its revenues are generated outside North America.
Founded in 2002, Big Fish Games began by developing and distributing computer games. Today the company works with third-party developers around the world to distribute games via its online portals described above. The Big Fish Games developer relations teams is staffed with professionals with diverse backgrounds who share a love of casual games and in the aggregate speak 11 languages. Beyond extraordinary service, Big Fish Games offers independent developers the largest marketing and distribution capabilities for casual games on the Internet, the best rates, and dedicated producers to provide real-time feedback and information to make their games a success.