EA to create support hub in Ireland Electronic Arts will almost double the size of its European customer support centre in Galway in a vote of confidence for Ireland's bid to become a hub for the gaming sector. The US games publisher said it would recruit an extra 300 jobs to push total employment to 700 at the centre, which beat off competition from other cities in Britain, Europe and the US to win the investment. "Ireland has won and won handsomely despite the romancing of a lot of cities and countries worldwide," Peter Moore, Electronic Arts chief operating officer told the Financial Times on Tuesday. "Galway met all of our criteria: the availability of a young educated workforce; an attractive lifestyle in the city for young workers; our ability to get in and train people; and government support for the jobs," he said. The move will come as a particular blow to the UK, which has been looking to attract more games company investment with the promise of tax breaks starting next year. However the criteria for what games will qualify for tax breaks is still under discussion and it has been unclear whether the incentives will be enough for large companies like EA. Dublin is targeting inward investment from games companies to help it recover from an economic crisis which forced it to accept a €67.5bn bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. About 2,000 people are currently employed in the games sector in multinational companies such as Zynga and Blizzard. The Irish government has set a target of creating an extra 2,500 jobs by 2014. Barry O'Leary, chief executive of IDA Ireland, said the Republic is benefiting from a "strong cluster effect" created by the large number of internet companies that have chosen to base their European operations and support functions in the country. Ireland has the top 10 internet companies in the world based here, the likes of Google, Twitter, Zynga and PayPal. We have something like 100 pan-European multilingual support centres and a large talent pool to tap into," he said. He added that rival cities such as London were more expensive than Ireland. Dublin offers incentives such as its ultra low corporation tax rate of 12.5 per cent, research and development tax breaks and the possibility of employment grants to companies willing to invest in the country. Electronic Arts centre in Galway is expected to benefit from employment grants to support job creation. Corporation tax is not considered a major incentive for customer support style operations. Electronic Arts, which is the publisher of the game Medal of Honour, owns PopCap Games, which employs almost 100 people in Dublin. But the company recently announced a strategic review of its Dublin office, which could lead to its closure.