UK game industry tax breaks - eligibility criteria

benji

http://www.develop-online.net/news/42752/Revealed-The-video-games-cultural-test

Of course, these tax breaks are a much needed initiative and very very welcome, but this points-based criteria system that relates to game content (i.e. not just the circumstances in which it's developed) gets me worried about the potential impact upon creative freedom that may be imposed upon developers (by publishers or managers) due to financial constraints.

Whut think?

almighty_gir

post apocalyptic, alien infested, neo london, here we come!

Justin Meisse

From the comments it looks like it's the only way they could do it without violating EU regulations. In my opinion, tax breaks & incentives are bad in the long run, they can disappear based on the whims of politicians at any moment.

Ark

So all you need essentially is a couple of unionjacks and tea-drinking characters and your set.

lysaara

All you need is for all of your development and staff to be in the UK and you've already got like 11/16 points. Add 4 points for dialogue in English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish/etc and you're practically there already.

I doubt this is going to have a huge impact on anyone's creativity - 'What do we/our publishers think the market wants' is the more harmful consideration, IMO