14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that Electronic Arts is in the process of looking for a place for a new development studio and a location in Atlanta, Georgia is one of the front runners, with initial estimates saying that up to 300 people could be working in the city in 2010. California is no longer attractive as a location for core development assets because of the costs and it seems that Texas was considered as a possible new location but was rejected.
Jeff Brown, who is a spokesperson for Electronic Arts, has told the Atlanta Business Chronicle that one of the main reasons for the move to Atlanta is money. He said, “The tax credit is definitely one of the things that attracted us to Georgia. If we can find an abundance of talent and a pipeline through a local university that gives us access to talent in both art and engineering, that’s where we start - The rest of it is really a cost equation.”
It appears that the new center will contain a development team, testers, a customer service section and management positions. It's not clear which of the components will go online first. The gaming industry in Atlanta is already pretty strong, with CCP, the developer of the EVE Online MMO, having a presence and with about 2,000 people already employed.
At the moment, Georgia Tech, the Savannah College of Art and Design and the Art Institute of Atlanta are offering game design courses, providing an important talent pool for those developers who are considering moving in. Electronic Arts has had a pretty rough 2009, with losses being projected and with various development studios, the most high profile of them being Pandemic, being closed down. The company has announced plans to release fewer titles during the coming year and is consolidating some development teams in Los Angeles. The new Atlanta center will probably take the lead on some fresh projects that the publisher has not yet announced.