ESA Canada: 'All's fair in love and war'

Danielle Parr, the executive director of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada says that his country's game industry and government can do anything they want to entice game developers to the great white north because "all's fair in love and war." While UK developers and government officials have been vocal about Canada's mission to "steal" developers from the region and bring them home, Parr, like a Jerry Springer guest, has no problem enticing talent to another bedroom.

While at Develop last week, Parr told BBC's Politics Show with a smile and a laugh that she sees no problem with it:

"A lot of people are looking at Canada and saying how are they doing this, they're taking all our jobs, how are they attracting our investment and we're not able to keep them here," she said. "But as they say, all's fair in love and war. We're just simply trying to promote the videogame industry in general, promote what Canada has to offer. And we'll take the best and the brightest, we'll take your investment."

Parr added that her country has made it a priority to grow the game industry through investment and providing a beneficial environment that fosters growth. But UK minister Ed Vaizey isn't laughing. The BBC spoke with him after a keynote on the cancellation of planned tax relief for the UK games industry.

"The Canadian Government has made a decision to get behind the videogame industry and to create a videogames industry virtually out of nothing," he said.

Ouch. Meanwhile TIGA head Richard Wilson said that the UK is "competing on a very uneven playing field" and that the "Canadians are a major threat" to their industry.

Source: gi.biz