EA expands Salt Lake studios, hiring for "groundbreaking new project"
EA's Salt Lake City studio is growing, so the company is packing up and moving to a larger location in the city and hiring for a new "groundbreaking" project that is yet to be announced.
The Salt Lake studios are home to several development teams for EA, and a small group from The Sims is moving from Redwood to work on the new project - but at this point, EA's not discussing the game other than the fact that it needs workers.
"We're truly thrilled to expand into Salt Lake City and what is becoming a growing and dynamic video game development scene," Ben Bell, Executive Producer at EA told Industry Gamers. "We're looking to fill several critical leadership positions on an exciting new project.
"A small team of experienced developers from The Sims Studio in Redwood Shores are moving to Salt Lake City to kick off a new project. As I mentioned, EA’s Play Label has an established office in Salt Lake City. Developers from EA Salt Lake will join the production and we’ll hire for key positions as the project grows.
"Like a lot of other companies last year, EA optimized its costs and reconfigured certain parts of the company. In some locations, that meant reducing staff.
"Utah is a good place for us for a number of reasons, the first being that EA already has a successful operation in Salt Lake City called EA Salt Lake.
"This new project will tap into the strong team that is already on the ground in Salt Lake City, and we’ll be hiring for key leadership positions. Salt Lake City already has a strong game development community and the base of talent here is deep. Historically, the game development scene in Salt Lake goes back several decades, and now there are hundreds of people in the region working on games.
"I personally feel like Salt Lake City offers a quality of life that can’t be matched by any of the other game development centers in North America. That is really important when you are trying to assemble a team of world-class game developers. It’s a sophisticated city that is just minutes away from stunning wilderness and world-class recreation. It’s the kind of place where you can decide what sort of life you want to have: Do you want to live in the city, in a nice suburb or in the mountains?"
Sounds like a deal. Maybe if Bell ever leaves EA he could work as a travel agent, because he has us wanting to visit the place despite how expensive it is.
More through the link.