Electronic Arts (EA), one of the world’s leading videogame developers, will be on a hiring spree in India for the next two years.
The talent pool will not only be used for EA’s games development programme, but also for its on-going effort to set up a global digital platform that is expected to take gaming to a new level involving portability across multiple devices.
In other words, subscribers can seamlessly play the same game across devices ranging from consoles, TVs and PCs to social and mobile verticals.
“We currently have on rolls about 400 personnel in India, a majority located in Hyderabad. We plan to at least double the head count in two years. But, this is not a cap, as we will continue hiring if we get the right talents,” Mr Rajat Taneja, EA’s Chief Technology Officer, told
India has emerged as a prominent battleground for the Silicon Valley-based firm, with the domestic video-game market growing at about 50 per cent CAGR.
Currently estimated at $ 260 million, the Indian gaming industry is projected to reach over $ 915 million in the next two years.
Globally, the video-game market was estimated at around $56 billion in 2011, which is projected to touch $82 billion by 2015.
EA’s global subscriber base has ballooned from 27 million three years ago to 220 million at present.
Globally, the firm, which employs 9,000 people, will be hiring 5,000 software engineers over the next few years. “Currently, 1,500 personnel are working exclusively on the digital platform exercise. Components of this platform are being developed in China, the US, Canada and now India,” Mr Taneja said.
The platform will enable creation of a single identity for the users, improve economics of scale and reduce operating costs for the company.
Its Hyderabad facility will be working on aspects such as game technology, software security and data engineering for the digital platform.