Ireland to Scotland: All Your Game Devs Will Belong to Us

The Irish government thinks highly of the game development industry in Scotland. So much so that they are considering offering tax breaks to developers to lure them in an effort to jumpstart the economy in Ireland.

According to a report in Herald Scotland (via Gamasutra), the Irish government is targeting Realtime Worlds, creator of the upcoming MMO APB and based in Dundee, Scotland, with the possibility of a five-year tax "holiday." Other Scottish developers that could be affected by the incentive would be Rockstar North (developer of Grand Theft Auto), Ruffian (maker of Crackdown 2), Denki, Dynamo Games, Firebrand Games, and Outerlight.

Colin Macdonald, studio chief at Realtime Worlds, told the Herald:

“If the package on offer in Ireland was attractive we’d have to give it serious consideration. Dundee is a great place to be based, one of the main hubs for ­computer games in Britain, but at the end of the day we’ve got to look after our bottom line.”

Macdonald also said that Canada had made serious overtures to the company and Realtime had actually lost some of its key people to the Great White North.

Scotland is apparently monitoring the situation. Tiga, the UK trade body for game developers, urged the Scottish Parliament's support for a 20 percent tax break for game developers earlier this year, according to Gamasutra.