The west of Ireland got a nice surprise this morning with news of 200 jobs heading to Galway via Electronic Arts. The games giant has confirmed today that it plans to open a European customer service and operations centre there, which will be operational at some point next year.

If you’re having issues with Mass Effect 2 next year you may end up talking to a formerly unemployed actor/musician/juggler in Galway (regional stereotype: check) at EA’s new customer service centre.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen said the centre was an “important addition” to, what the official IDA statement on the matter termed, “Ireland’s thriving games industry” (though some of our recent reports on the industry may beg to differ on just how well it’s doing overall). “EA joins a vibrant digital media sector and is a key endorsement of the skills and expertise available in Ireland for this sector,” added IDA Ireland’s chief executive Barry O’Leary.

Meanwhile, senior vice president of EA, Dr Ray Muzyka said, “Galway gives us the right mix of solid technology infrastructure and international recruitment opportunities as we continue to focus on bringing the highest quality gaming experiences to market.” He added, “the new Irish location for Bioware will help us get closer to our fans in Europe.”

The centre will support EA’s Bioware studio, which specialises in creating computer, handheld and console games and is responsible for titles such as Mass Effect, Sonic Chronicles, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dragon Age : Origins.

EA already has European game teams in the UK, Sweden, Germany, Romania and Spain. The company joins games firms such as Activision Blizzard and Big Fish games which already have operations here, while EA recently posted net annual revenue of $3.7 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million units in the last fiscal year.