Electronic Arts, Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Department of Economic Development have formed a partnership that will lead to the creation of a new global quality assurance (QA) center in Baton Rouge. The facility will be the first of its kind in the United States and will serve primarily as a test center for EA Sports' software titles.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said, "This announcement of EA putting the first-of-its-kind video game testing center in the U.S. right here in Baton Rouge is a terrific win for the city and the future of our state. We know our economic development initiatives have to be aggressive, but they must also be innovative, and EA has both of these important attributes."
Jindal added, "This job win is a critical step in creating a digital media economy that will generate even more high-paying high tech jobs and help us compete for even more jobs within EA in the future."
Jindal personally cultivated a relationship with EA, and his state budget for fiscal year 2009 includes funding for two new positions focused specifically on growing the digital media industry in Louisiana.
The QA center, created through the EA/LSU partnership, will be a testing facility for new software designed by EA's development studios. The center will ramp up to approximately 20 full time employees as well as over 200 part time testers made up predominately of LSU students. Payroll for the operation is expected to increase to approximately $5.7 million per year within two years.
Baton Rouge area was selected because of an abundance of potential technology-minded employees, a deeply-rooted sports culture highly valuable for evaluating sports-themed software, digital media tax credits and a digital media curriculum being vigorously cultivated at LSU through a new program called AVATAR (Arts, Visualization Advanced Technologies and Research).
AVATAR will establish collaboration among various disciplines to produce research and projects related to digital media. As part of this joint venture, EA will assist in the development of the digital media industry in Louisiana, and will help to encourage technology research and development in the field, by assisting in the development of curricula, workforce programs and digital media cultivation efforts.
Brooks Keel, LSU's Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development said, "Our AVATAR Initiative will recruit leaders from around the world to LSU to perform cutting edge research in high-performance computing, video game development, interactive systems, visual effects and digital arts, and our developing Digital Media Curriculum will offer education and training for students interested in these areas."
The QA facility will initially be located at LSU's South Campus as part of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center. EA will make use of Louisiana's Digital Media Tax Credit Program, as well as assistance from LED and EBR City-Parish for facility improvements.
