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]..."
Full Disclosure Dept: The ECA is the parent company of GamePolitics.
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.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
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.
E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
Random Tower: Game News and Commentary
-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.