February 7, 2007
How would one define the "cultural dimension" of a game? That question will be posed by three of the top ten game producers this year as they vie for French tax credits.In November of last year, GamePolitics covered French minister of culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres' push to have video games treated the same as movies, and thus be eligible for "cultural" tax credits.
Now, Reuters is reporting that the French Parliament has approved the plan, which provides tax credits of up to 20% of production costs (max 3 million euros), provided the game includes a "cultural dimension:"
It recognizes the cultural character of the video game, which involves several branches of artistic talent: writers, directors, graphic artists, musical and sound creators.
The European Commission had previously warned Mr. Donnedieu de Vabres that such a tax credit might constitute a subsidy, potentially in violation of EU policy. The Commission has now launched a formal investigation.
-Reporting from Canada, GP Correspondent Colin "Jabrwock" McInnes
Comments
Its better than what I thought.
I think uh they made it to France man.
France is the one who decides who gets the credits, not the EU. The only thing the EU is investigating, is whether this counts as a "subsidy to industry", which is against EU policy (fair trade practices and all that).
Also remember that while countries like Germany preside the EU, it's still like a parliament, and Germany can't force it's views on other countries willy nilly. If the EU as a whole decides that it can, then we have a new issue.
However, ZippyDSMlee has a point : "cultural character" may not mean "non violent" for French politicians, but it will sure mean "non violent" for EU commissionners. Considering that Germany, the land where politicians don't like "killer games", presides European Union, and that Franco Frattini, the "Rule of the Rose" basher, is vice-president of EU commission, there is the risk that any game considered as "violent" will not receive tax credit. And according to a coverage I read on a French site, such games as World Of Warcraft" and its add-on "Burning Crusade" may be catalogued as "violent".
These kinds of tax credits (Canada has similar ones) usually mean "promoting the culture of the country" not "kid friendly".
So in theory a game about Louis the XIV might qualify, or a FPS where you play the French resistance in WWII, or a game that features Paris, or merely contains "French" characters...
I believe one film in Canada that qualified was "Bon Cop, Bad Cop", and all it had to do was star a french-canadian character and mention Quebec... There were other tax credits for filming in Canada, but that's a different category...