Rocksteady co-founder and game director Sefton Hill has called on the UK government to offer tax breaks to game studios before it’s too late. Hill says it is time for the UK to support its games studios to match the benefits offered overseas or risk losing them.

"A lot of my friends have moved abroad to get work; there's a real talent drain," Hill said in an interview with CVG. "Montreal is a central place for development and it's mainly because the tax breaks they give are so phenomenal."

According to a developer survey conducted by UK game industry trade group TIGA, only 33 percent of developers in the United Kingdom are working solely on games for traditional retail. Only ten percent of those start-ups surveyed said that retail was their area of focus. The rest, two-thirds according to TIGA, are working on digital or social game properties. TIGA claims that just 33 percent of UK developers now work solely on retail, and based on survey results, estimates that the digital and social games sector will grow by 21 percent every year until 2015.

The trade group representing United Kingdom game developers expressed their concerns about SOPA in a press release issued yesterday. TIGA CEO Dr. Richard Wilson said that the bill worries the UK games industry because they could open them up to damaging legal actions and hurt online games businesses.

According to a survey conducted by Games Investor Consulting, 41 percent of jobs lost in the United Kingdom between 2009 and 2011 relocated to other countries with tax codes and incentives that favored the video game and entertainment industry.

Developers joining the ranks of the UK game industry trade group TIGA will be delighted to hear that the group is hosting two events for indies and mobile studios to recieve free consultation from PR experts. In announcing it, TIGA said the initiative is part of a wider goal of supporting the new wave of independent start-up studios that seem to be emerging across the UK. Some of these new studios popping up are the result of massive layoffs by big studios.

UK video game industry trade group TIGA has launched what it calls an education matching service that will help colleges and universities with speakers from the games industry. TIGA education manager Lorna Evans will oversee the matches.

TIGA has publicly urged the Scottish Government to create a Creative Content Fund to help Scottish developers. The fund would be designed to offer up £100,000 investment to developers for new projects, and allow them to get the money the group invested back once a project starts making significant revenue. The fund would only apply to games where the developer owned the IP as well.

In a guest editorial on the UK version of the Huffington Post, TIGA CEO Richard Wilson ask the British government to give the game industry a break ... a tax break.

UK video game industry trade group TIGA said today that high technology businesses in the region were at risk of a "brain drain and skill shortages," complicated and compounded by the existence of tax breaks in other countries. The group has long sought tax breaks and incentives for the video game industry, but the financial downturn and austerity measures in the UK forced the government to abandon any measures that were on the table at the time.

UK video game trade group TIGA issued a short statement on the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) mathematics results. The group said that the significant increase in entries for physics combined with a rise in the proportion of young people achieving A - C grades at GCSE mathematics was "encouraging," but that the country faces a challenge for achieving similar results for the two-fifths of GCSE students who failed to get a passing grade. A solid background in mathematics is fundamental for students looking to have a career in the game industry.

UK video game industry trade group TIGA proposed today that the UK's Coalition Government should open the Small Firms R&D Tax Credit to promote "a high technology recovery and job creation in high technology industries." TIGA made the comments in response to a "consultation exercise" by HM Treasury on the R&D tax credits.

UK video game industry trade group TIGA has joined forces with members of the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF) to voice its concern that the new EU funding programs planned for media and culture and for research and innovation for 2013 - 2020 do not place "sufficient emphasis" on the video game development sector. The groups voiced their concerns at Gamescom this week in Cologne, Germany.

UK video game industry trade group UKIE announced this week that the London Games Festival has been cancelled this year. This is the first time in six years that the annual event has not run. The group said that the event will return in 2012 to coincide with the Olympics. Further, UKIE promises major collaboration with other groups - such as TIGA - on next year's event to make sure that it happens.

If you want to jump into the business of developing and publishing video games in the United Kingdom, then chances are you'll be attending the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair. Today event organizers announced that they have secured the endorsements of every major video game related trade organization in the UK. This includes the UKIE, BAFTA and TIGA. The event is part of this year's Eurogamer Expo, which takes place September 22 - 25. The event is designed for students, graduates and others who want to get into the video game industry. It will feature career talks, roundtables and question and answer sessions with game developers from the UK and beyond.

"The Career Fair at the Eurogamer Expo is an outstanding opportunity for industry to reach out to the potential employees of the future," commented Sam Collins, UKIE commercial director.

UK video game industry trade organization TIGA issued a warning today that the video games industry in the region continues to experience a "brain drain of skilled development staff." TIGA said that this warning is based on the results of a new survey of 104 UK games businesses which showed that 20 percent of respondents had lost staff to foreign countries over the previous 12 months.

Many of those highly skilled workers have been lost to Canada because companies there can afford to hire and commit funds to research and development due to generous government tax breaks and incentives.. The Entertainment Software Association of Canada recently said that Canada's industry has been "successful in attracting investment and skilled personnel from jurisdictions like the United Kingdom.."

UK games industry trade group TIGA announced this morning that it has formed a partnership with the European Games Developer Federation (EGDF) to lobby the European Parliament for "improved access to finance for the video game industry." The EGDF has published a Report (Game Development and Digital Growth) which makes a series of recommendations for the European Commission and Members of the European Parliament. TIGA, along with other EDGF members, are pushing several game industry-related proposals to European policy makers in Brussels today.

Those proposals, according to TIGA's press announcement, include the following:

- Recognize video games as a form of cultural expression and make them eligible in all member states for public funding, as is the case with a growing number of non-European countries.

UK game industry trade group TIGA has revealed the first details on its upcoming Casual Games Event scheduled for May 13 in London. The one-day event for casual and social game developers will feature speakers from BBC, BBC Worldwide Games, Autodesk, Channel 4 Education, Microsoft, Mo Pay, Disney, RIM, UKTI, Zylom and key members of the team who created ‘Tomb Raider’, Jeremy Heath-Smith and Adrian Smith.

Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA's CEO, says that the group's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to make games and that casual games are a crucial part of the UK industry. TIGA’s new Casual Games Committee will support casual game developer members by raising their profile and by generating new business opportunities for them, he added.

TIGA, the UK trade organization representing the video game industry, has added several seasoned industry veterans to its board of directors. Five new Directors have been elected to the board today: Karl Hilton, Chris Kempt, Georgina Mackenzie, Patrick O'Luanaigh and Mark Webley.

Chris Kempt is Managing Director and founder of Kempt, Karl Hilton is Managing Director of Crytek UK, Mark Webley is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Lionhead Studios, Patrick O'Luanaigh is the Chief Executive Officer of nDreams, and Georgina Mackenzie is the CEO of Toytek.

UK trade group Tiga has announced that it has established a new division to support the growing legions of casual and social game developers in the region. The group that represents the UK's game development industry says that the new division can help studios network, develop strategic partnerships, identify trends in the market and offer discounts on software and tools when possible.

The group has also opened a ‘Casual Games Committee’, designed to "support companies creating games of all formats with production budgets between £10,000 and £300,000." Tiga added that this move is a response to “exponential growth in casual gaming platforms" in the region. Tiga members working on a casual game can apply to join, as long as their game's budget is within the previously stated guidelines.

UK games industry trade group TIGA today published a new report called "Powering a high technology recovery: proposals for improving R&D tax credits," which continues to urge the government to improve the research and development tax credit to better support the interactive entertainment industry.

The report focuses on how the R&D tax credits system can be improved for the UK games industry. TIGA says that its proposals for the R&D tax credits would "deliver 60 - 75 percent more value to games studios than the current R&D tax credit regime." This, it says would enable studios to invest more in R&D, generate and retain new IP, and hire more development staff.

TIGA offers the following key proposals:

UK game industry trade group UKIE issued a statement today saying that it was moving on from last week's failed merger talks with industry group TIGA. The group that represents game publishers had tried to negotiate a merger with the group that primarily represented game developers in the UK. Those talks were a wash, with TIGA abruptly walking out over several disagreements. UKIE's board offered its thanks to TIGA CEO Richard Wilson for his time with informal talks.

"The board of UKIE are deeply disappointed that TIGA have ruled out potential talks to discuss forming one trade body to represent the entire UK games industry," read the statement. "We would like to thank the TIGA board for their time and consideration of the matter and their CEO for informal talks and meetings over the past six months".

A Develop report says that negotiations for a merger between UKIE and Tiga have broken down. The two UK-based trade groups representing different segments of the interactive entertainment industry in the region could not agree on how to combine the two groups together into one organization. Develop says that Tiga, the association representing game developers, was the group most interested in walking away from the table.

"Tiga and its board would like to make it clear that we have no plans to merge with any other organisation," the organisation told Develop. "We do not see value in distracting ourselves with talks towards such an end while the games industry faces pressing matters including Games Tax Relief, R&D tax credits, improving access to finance, migration policy, education and skills and IP."

UK games industry trade group TIGA says that it plans to bring a "record number" of delegates from the United Kingdom to the Game Developers Conference this year. TIGA, in partnership with the UKT&I’s Trade Access Programme, has allocated 19 grants of £1400 ($2,250 USD) to assist companies with their exhibitor costs at GDC and Game Connection @ GDC.

"The UK game development sector is an export success story. A typical game developer generates 62 per cent of their turnover through the export of games," said Dr Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO. "Attending overseas trade shows helps game developers to maximise their export potential. TIGA is delighted to be an accredited trade association, working with UKT&I, to enable UK developers to achieve success at GDC."

The Scottish Affairs Committee released a 38-page report today called "Video Games Industry in Scotland," that highlights twenty key proposals it believes will improve the video game industry in the UK. Some of those proposals include tax relief similar to what is offered forto the movie industry, research & development tax relief, and adaption of the Livingstone-Hope Review, among other things designed to create a more prosperous environment for game makers and publishers.

On a related note, the UK industry trade group TIGA said in a press release today that it "welcomed" the report and said that many of the proposals it listed echoed much of what it has said in the past.

The entire list of proposals - taken from Develop - can be found below:

While TIGA and UKIE applauded the Livingstone-Hope Skills Review report released earlier this week, the trade groups representing in the interests of publishers and developers says that they have no plans to merge the organization into one entity - as the report suggested they do.

TIGA applauded recommendations that it has been seeking doe a very long time including using video games to promote the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, and support for "Knowledge Transfer Partnerships." TIGA CEO Richard Wilson said he welcomes the proposal "requiring higher education institutions to provide good quality data about the employment destination of graduates from games courses and other disciplines relevant to the video games industry."

A new report calls for UK trade groups TIGA and UKIE to work together to better support the industry in the region. The recommendation is part of the UK video games education review revealed today (the Livingstone-Hope report).

"Progress is all about simplification not complication," reads the report. "In order to be clearly heard, it is important to speak with a single voice. To be taken seriously the video games industry and its trade bodies must be united to raise awareness of the opportunities it offers and the issues it faces. Only then will it be able to effect change."

The report goes on to say that the UK games industry would be better served by one organization - possibly by combining the two groups.

UK video game industry trade group TIGA has re-released a revised 85-page document showing the positives of the government offering tax relief to the industry. The report, a revision of a document that was released to Labour Party government in 2008, was put together by TIGA, Osborne Clarke, games research firm Games Investor Consulting. The thrust of the report is that, if the government were to approve tax relief for the video game industry, it could create 3,366 industry jobs and create £431 million in investments.

TIGA says that this tax relief should be calculated in the same way that existing tax relief for British films is calculated.

Publishing trade group UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE) released estimates that for every game sold at retail four games are pirated. Director general Michael Rawlinson told GamesIndustry.biz that the group plans to commission "thorough research into the problem," though it probably should have done that before throwing the 4-to-1 figure out to the general public.

"Based on information received from a number of publishers we have estimates of games piracy running at between 4:1 against legitimate sales," said Rawlinson.

Rawlinson says that a recent report in the BBC's Newsbeat ("High Street retail lost £1.45 billion in 2010 due to piracy") is based on a "conservative guess using "the equivalent of console software sales in the UK last year."

UK game industry trade group TIGA is urging the government to introduce a package of measures including "Games Tax Relief," enhanced research and development tax credits, a lottery-financed prototype fund for the game development industry, more investment in higher education, incentives to study STEM subjects at the college level, tax relief on training related to the industry, a more flexible migration policy, an expansion of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and high speed broadband comparable in speeds to our main competitors.

"For too long the Coalition Government has acted like a one club golfer: it has had a strategy for reducing the deficit but little to say about growth," said Dr. Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO in a lengthy statement issued this morning. "The Government’s Growth Review is long overdue – not least because strong economic growth is crucial to reducing the deficit."

UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport minister Ed Vaizey said at a recent meeting that tax breaks for the UK games industry could be a long ways away. Speaking recently at DCMS select committee meeting, MP Vaizey said that tax incentives for the interactive entertainment industry could be off the table for three to four years. He also said that he would encourage trade group TIGA to look for alternatives to tax incentives for the industry.

When asked if tax incentives were completely off the table, Vaizey said that he would "encourage TIGA in particular to look at other creative options."

Those other options include "regional growth funds" and direct support from the government - specifically the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Source: GameSpot UK