Bruton: Gaming sector prospects still good despite Blizzard losses

Jobs and Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton has insisted that the prospects for the gaming industry in Ireland are very positive, despite the loss of 200 jobs at Blizzard Entertainment in Cork.

The US-based gaming giant, which is behind titles including World of Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo, announced the redundancies yesterday.

It is understood customer support staff will be most affected at the company's operation in Blackpool, where almost 900 people are employed.

Minister Bruton said he was aware of the decision before it was announced, but there is still the capacity to double the number of people working in the sector in Ireland.

"This is within a sector that has immense opportunities," he said.

"We already have over 2,000 people working in this sector (and) we have the capacity to more than double the number of people working in this digital gaming sector.

"Like all sectors which are growing very rapidly, there are processes of change and people have to adapt to changed circumstances.

"But I think the prospects with this sector are very positive and I look forward to better news in the future," he added.

Blizzard established its customer support centre in Cork in 2007. The office offers customer support to gamers in eight languages and plans to recruit Italian language specialists this year ahead of the launch of the full Italian version of WoW.

Founded in 1991, the company is one of the world's largest developers of online games.