March 25, 2010 -
The surprise announcement that tax breaks are forthcoming for UK game developers has prompted a flurry of stories and reactions.
Gamesindustry.biz has a good summary of the reactions, which have ranged from surprise to outright relief. A key point, however:
... it's worth noting that all of this is in the context of a looming General Election, after which the present government may be unseated and a large proportion of what was announced could be discarded. Conservative shadow minister Ed Vaizey seems positive on his party's support for the games industry, but has made no promises should the government in the UK change. Meanwhile current polls suggest a hung Parliament could be the most likely outcome of the voting process, and if that happens then nothing is clear.
It's an interesting wrapup of the situation. Would it be a stretch to say the UK speech was a political ploy to stay elected?
Comments
Re: Summarizing U.K.'s Tax Breaks
Yes it would be a stretch to say that this was a ploy to get re-elected. I'm sure tax breaks for games developers is an issue that hardly anyone cares about (even gamers) and I doubt anyone would vote for a party of the basis of a tax break to one small industry.
Re: Summarizing U.K.'s Tax Breaks
I'm not sure of the numbers but I don't think I would term game development in the UK as a "small industry".
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Chris Kimberley
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Chris Kimberley
Re: Summarizing U.K.'s Tax Breaks
I think between 200K and 300K people in the UK work in the videogames sector, however I've no idea if that includes retail or not.
Re: Summarizing U.K.'s Tax Breaks
Aren't most political speeches just a ploy to stay elected?
The encouaging thing is that the first move has been made - Tax breaks are now on the agenda and are probably inevitable, even if it takes two to five years to get there.