RECRUITMENT IS under way to fill up to 100 new positions to be created in Cork by US online games company Big Fish Games. The company plans to establish its European headquarters at City Gate Business Park in Mahon, with the aid of IDA Ireland.

Positions in customer support and games testing will make up the bulk of the new jobs. New recruits will be required to be capable of communicating effectively with customers, particularly in French, German and Spanish.

Big Fish Games is based in Seattle, Washington, and employs about 350 people in developing games for computers and mobile devices.

The company currently distributes more than 1.5 million games a day to customers worldwide through its English, German, French, Spanish and Japanese language portals.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan said the decision by the company to establish its headquarters in Ireland was a major coup and would lend a positive slant to the IDA’s continuing efforts to attract investment into the country.

“Online media is hugely important: once you attract one person here on the back of that, you attract many more. That’s why we have Google, that’s why we have Facebook. I am travelling to the States next week to attract more companies like this to this part of the world, based on our talent pool, on our languages and our skills,” she said.

Ms Coughlan said the focus for attracting investment from abroad was based on Ireland’s “intellectual property”.

“We have seen an evolution over the last couple of years moving from traditional manufacturing to online media, life sciences, pharma and RD. The announcement by the Minister [for Finance] in supporting from a taxation perspective our intellectual property is the next step in attracting those high-quality jobs,” she said.

Jeremy Lewis, president and chief executive officer of Big Fish Games, said Cork was chosen because there is a highly skilled and multilingual workforce available there.

Cork chamber president Joe Gantly said the decision by Big Fish to locate in Cork was a positive statement on Cork’s ability to attract digital, knowledge-based industry.

“It’s a real vote of confidence in Cork’s capacity to compete internationally in the knowledge economy. It is also testament to the availability of quality, globally aware, highly skilled professionals who will ensure Big Fish Games success,” he said.