EA Sports Brings 300 Jobs to Austin

Daryl Holt, EA Sports COO, was spotted in Austin a couple weeks ago, supposedly on the lookout for space to implement a new studio. Well, everything must have gone to plan (and he didn't need to look very hard) as today EA executives, with Governor Perry in tow, announced a potential 300 jobs in Austin. Some of these jobs will go to EA Games and some to IT and finance departments, but all 300 jobs will be added to the two buildings that make up EA Sports' new studio home, at the excellent Bioware studios (also owned by EA).

Austin's gaming development has had a lot of action in the past few months, with talent moving between studios, Ignition's layoffs, and a general surge in creative talent moving within city limits(just in time for the festival). But this represents a pretty big moment for Austin as a game developing city. Austin should be ideal for their college franchises with easy access to coaches, infastructure and mo-cap victims athletes (though maybe they should be focused on the upcoming season).

EA plans to build the team slowly with 30-35 members expected in the first year. They have not yet decided what the Austin team will be working on, but with so much growth in their recent history, there's no shortage of projects. Joystiq caught the conference earlier today.