Game Developers Ignoring Connecticut Tax Credits
Game Developers Ignoring Connecticut Tax Credits
November 5, 2007
Connecticut.It's variously called the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, the Provisions State, and the Land of Steady Habits.
It's also home to longtime game industry nemesis Sen. Joseph Lieberman as well as the headquarters of the gamer-friendly Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) and its president, Hal Halpin.
But, despite tax incentives enacted by the state legislature, game developers haven't flocked to Connecticut. The Hartford Business Journal reports that they may not even be aware of the tax breaks. Karen Senich, a state official, told the Journal:
[The tax break] is in the statute and it has always included video games. We’ve had a lot of interest from the film industry, but not a single application for video games.
Connecticut did manage to attract the producers of the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which was shot in New Haven. But states like Louisiana and Georgia, which have aggressively targeted game developers, have done better. Georgia, for example, now boast 50 game companies which employ 2,000 people.
Lack of promotion may be to blame for the failure of game developers to take advantage of the tax break, said Senich:
In the film industry, [word] just spread like wildfire within the industry. We participated in seminars to a degree, but it was really people within the industry talking to each other that got Connecticut noticed.
Have we gone out and actively pursued the video game developers? No. Was that deliberate on our part? No. There was a level of knowledge with the tax credits for the film industry and we just don’t have the kind of money that allows us to do too much.
Certainly, we would be very receptive to any company that would want to come to Connecticut and providing the tax credits if they meet the $50,000 threshold [needed to earn the credit]..."
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Posted 03/21/10 at 06:23pm
Andrew Eisen: No, I think I'll stay safe and warm in my own little world where Provolone is king and that... other cheese... doesn't exist.
Andrew Eisen: No, I think I'll stay safe and warm in my own little world where Provolone is king and that... other cheese... doesn't exist.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:22pm
JDKJ: I wish the Speaker would ask me for what purpose does the member rise.
JDKJ: I wish the Speaker would ask me for what purpose does the member rise.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:18pm
JDKJ: Provolone?! Please! Try aged Blue Stilton. Also known as Zippy Ass-Crack Cheese.
JDKJ: Provolone?! Please! Try aged Blue Stilton. Also known as Zippy Ass-Crack Cheese.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:13pm
Andrew Eisen: Nothing beats Provolone.
Andrew Eisen: Nothing beats Provolone.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:11pm
JDKJ: Betcha my cheese beats your cheese.
JDKJ: Betcha my cheese beats your cheese.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:09pm
Andrew Eisen: I don't know, I can count pretty high with my graphing calculator. It's a TI-86!
Andrew Eisen: I don't know, I can count pretty high with my graphing calculator. It's a TI-86!
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:07pm
JDKJ: There'll be more dead babies than you can count if the socialists succeed in passing that God-damned Obamacare!!
JDKJ: There'll be more dead babies than you can count if the socialists succeed in passing that God-damned Obamacare!!
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:04pm
Andrew Eisen: Hmm, top 10 child deaths in film. What a great blog post that would make! If I had a blog. And if that hadn't been done a million times before.
Andrew Eisen: Hmm, top 10 child deaths in film. What a great blog post that would make! If I had a blog. And if that hadn't been done a million times before.
Posted 03/21/10 at 06:03pm
JDKJ: Whoa! It's some rotten blue cheese, too.
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Posted 03/21/10 at 06:00pm
JDKJ: *sighs and smiles* I just cut some cheese.
JDKJ: *sighs and smiles* I just cut some cheese.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:58pm
Andrew Eisen: Well, just so there's no confusion: implied deaths won't get you to the top of my favorite child-deaths list.
Andrew Eisen: Well, just so there's no confusion: implied deaths won't get you to the top of my favorite child-deaths list.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:58pm
JDKJ: Most authorities hold that "cut the mustard" mutates and derives from "cut the muster."
JDKJ: Most authorities hold that "cut the mustard" mutates and derives from "cut the muster."
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:56pm
Andrew Eisen: Checked the dictionary. I guess you could cut one definition of muster.
Andrew Eisen: Checked the dictionary. I guess you could cut one definition of muster.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:56pm
JDKJ: Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself.
JDKJ: Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:55pm
Andrew Eisen: Cut the muster? That wouldn't make a lot of sense. You could pass it sure but cut it?
Andrew Eisen: Cut the muster? That wouldn't make a lot of sense. You could pass it sure but cut it?
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:53pm
JDKJ: As in: "Zippy always cuts the cheese but he never cuts the muster."
JDKJ: As in: "Zippy always cuts the cheese but he never cuts the muster."
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:51pm
JDKJ: And I believe the expression is more properly "cut the muster," not "mustard." Not to be confused with "cut the cheese."
JDKJ: And I believe the expression is more properly "cut the muster," not "mustard." Not to be confused with "cut the cheese."
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:48pm
JDKJ: I kinda like the way it's left to the imagination. Like the shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho.
JDKJ: I kinda like the way it's left to the imagination. Like the shower scene in Hitchcock's Psycho.
Posted 03/21/10 at 05:46pm
Andrew Eisen: A flying shoe doesn't quite cut the mustard. If it was shot like a similar scene in Bride of Chucky, Gage's death would rank a lot higher.
Andrew Eisen: A flying shoe doesn't quite cut the mustard. If it was shot like a similar scene in Bride of Chucky, Gage's death would rank a lot higher.
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Comments
Good luck figuring it all out. It is a shame that although it is meant for game studios, that they would make it so hard to implement.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=3&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.culturea...
http://www.fairfieldcountybusiness.com/archive/100807/1008070002.php4
http://www.cultureandtourism.org/cct/cwp/view.asp?a=2126&q=316550
There was an article a while ago about tax breaks in Texas. But there are very few states that offer them at the moment. There would probably be more if more governments took the video game industry more seriously. Everyone wants to get the film industry involved in their state, only because they recognize the income potential of movies. Video games not so much.
-GP
Preznit Bush was born in your room?
I need to get that sign.
I realize that it's been over 20 years since I lived in Connecticut (and made video games there), but I seem to remember that it failed to meet most of those criteria. It was comparatively expensive to live there (and closer to NYC it was even more expensive), the weather was slushy and cold in the winter and miserably humid in the summer, Hartford pretty much rolled up the sidewalks at 5:00 PM, and my company had to import 75% of development talent from sources outside the state. The proximity of Boston or NYC wasn't much of an attraction back then, since we were trying to coax talent out of those cities to come live and work in Hartford.
Maybe if they find a way draw development talent out of the insurance industry they'll do better ... and repealing the state income tax might help too.
But anyway, heh.. I didn't know the ECA was headquartered here.
I personally would wish more game developers would come here to CT, not just because of games, but because it might open up somemore IT jobs here, and as someone who has been trying to get an entry-level IT job in order to finish school, having more such jobs come in would be great for me.
That made me LOL and I'm a conservative (do have liberal beleifs though).
I will say seeing the filming of Indy 4 was awesome!
While comparing CT cost of living to California seems to be a favorable comparison, you have to take into account that California is not your state's competition for developers. Texas, Georgia, Illinois, Arizona, and North Carolina are growing hotbeds of game development (to name a few). And in every one of those states a potential developer's salary is going to go a lot further than Connecticut (based on cost of living comparisons). If that 30% Tax break goes directly into a 30% increase in employee salaries AND the developer is not based in the CT Gold Coast area, then CT is indeed comparable.
If growth of the development community follows patterns in other areas, then expect it to do so by "budding and shedding" as developers leave existing companies to create new ones. This is how the communities in Dallas and Austin have grown.
And you can always hope that Global Warming will make CT's climate more attractive.
To put things in perspective special sessions are always being called to finish up little things like the budget and bonding packages.
@Brandon Curiel
Where are you located? Also election day is tomorrow
I kid. GP, do you lean a bit left, or is it just me?
Do you have a problem with Left-Wing news sites?
And also, I don't know anyone who likes Lieberman. How can you vote for a person who sounds like he's whining when he speaks?
But one of my history teachers has a bumper sticker for Lieberman stuck on his wall, but he's strongly conservative. The sticker's a joke from him, or a practical joke from one of his classes one year..
We're based in Cromwell, about 15 min south of Hartford.
@Verbinator
Believe me, I'm not going to argue about CT being the cheapest place to live - it isn't. At the end of the day though, job is only part of the reason people choose to live someplace, and we have some luck getting people with family in the area or just like it here because it is what they are used to. Also, in terms of the region, it does give the state a leg up on New York and Mass so it helps for attracting regional talent.
In any case, if the program can give us an effective 30% tax credit, that will definitely help in terms of offering better bonus and compensation packages to the employees.