PRETAX PROFITS at an Irish subsidiary of the global online games giant Blizzard Entertainment, which recently announced the loss of 200 jobs at its Cork base, increased by 30 per cent to €3.5 million in 2010.

According to accounts filed by Blizzard Entertainment Ireland Ltd, company revenues rose by 30 per cent to €40.2 million from €30.9 million in the period.

Earlier this year, the company’s US parent Activision Blizzard announced the loss of 200 jobs from the almost 900-strong workforce at its European customer support centre in Cork as part of a global restructuring.

At the end of 2010, according to the latest company filing, the group employed 840 people in Cork, up 137 on the previous year.

At the time, the directors state in their report that they were “satisfied with the performance of the company for the financial year”.

Blizzard, founded in 1991, is one of the world’s largest developers of video and online games.

It is responsible for some of the world’s biggest-selling games, including blockbuster hits such as Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo. Its World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion, which launched in December 2010, sold more than 3.3 million copies worldwide in its first 24 hours of release.

The company established its European customer support centre at the Blackpool Retail Centre on Cork’s north side in 2007. At the end of 2010, accumulated profit there stood at €5 million.

Accounts for a separate Irish-based Activision Blizzard firm show that pre-tax profits at Activision Blizzard Entertainment Ireland increased by 7 per cent to €708,052 in 2010 on revenue of €7.6 million.