Tax relief for UK game industry
polycount lvl 666
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/games-industry-praises-budget-tax-cuts-1926585.html
Its something the tories have been promising, but 'Nu lab' seem to have beat them to it
Its something the tories have been promising, but 'Nu lab' seem to have beat them to it
Replies
Just hope all this gets through its hurdles and does what it intends, i.e gets more devlopers to stay/come to the UK, it all sounds promising though.
I do however dread walking into a pub next week though....cheapest beer I can get round here is £2.70 at the moment...I expect to pay £3 as it is at any of the other pubs around here....one pub is charging £3.50 for larger..... god only knows what its going to be next week.
Still could be worse, I could be a cider drinker.
John
P.S Flava im gonna guess due to your avatar that your up at RTW, I just got confirmation im onto the APB beta, unfortunatily will miss tomorrows server periode but will hopefully catch sunday nights....looking forward to seeing what you guys have been doing with your lives
@Flava-Fly,
What channel and time was it on?
then it should happen.
It all depends as the tories will have to make swinging cuts to get us out of our current debt situation, so i hope this isn't the first casualty.
What there needs to be is a comprehensive system of tax relief for British companies so we can compete on an even playing field
street fighter 4
Halo wars
resident evil 5
call of duty world at war~(ok this one has a location/ nationality)
killzone 2
mario kart wii
pokemon platinum
wiiplay
wiifit
only one of these is set in any real world location with characters of a specific nationality. I read the comments on one news site and someone suggested that as long as local british actors and businesses are involved it could pass the cultural test and get the tax breaks but Im not sure of this.
http://www.develop-online.net/news/34291/Has-Labour-paved-the-way-for-GTA-London
Its not set in stone about the British criteria, this is from develop magazine...
"Though the exact criteria of the tax break requirements is yet to be decided, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has indicated that it will follow a similar model to that currently applied to the UK film industry.
Under that model, those seeking relief must score at least 16 points out of a possible 31 in a culturally British test."
Do you prefer to drink coffee or take tea?
Do you like your toast done on one side or two?
I can see it now, Brink at Butlins-Olympic swimming pool edition.
I really hope this isnt the case. Doesnt really make sense how they were saying the UK is one of the top countries (4th) for high profile development and then giving an example of GTA4 as one of these titles. Im sure theres an english character in GTA somewhere but this is a game based in AMERICA!!!!!
I love our government at the moment, they say somethings awesome but theres always a stupid catch that fudges everything up.
@Bronco good work on getting hooked in I hope you enjoy the game and please feedback on the community forums if you want something changed/added/(nerfed?!) the fresh eyes are making really positive changes!
@Metalliandy was on Scotland Today
http://news.stv.tv/video/stv-news-at-six-tayside-20100324/ - jump to 13:20 for some games tax banter! I don't even usually sit there just came down to clear up some other work, camera man must have seen my raw sex appeal!
Lets hope this all comes to something after the election.
Out of interest, how does this compare to other countries tax breaks when it comes to game dev.?
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/culturaltestpoints
Haha, I know Chris sitting beside you in that shot.
I really hope they do something like this. So tired of other countries completely suppressing their culture, accents, languages, architecture, ethnic types, etc and catering to the American market. STALKER was russian as all get out, and I loved it for it. I want to see more games like that. It kills me to see Crytek just make another US centric shooter when it could have all kinds of awesome german influences.
Even though UK culture isn't that radically different from the US, I'm all for some British centric games, and it's not like Americans are so xenophobic they'd be unable to enjoy a game with british characters, locations, and themes. I mean the Bond property does well in the US, why can't games?
I even worked out that you could actually meet 16 points without it being set in the UK, having a british lead character, or basing it on a british subject matter. (Not that I'm against these things)
Plus, Sword and Shield games are lame if they have US accents floating about.
http://www.destructoid.com/starbreeze-confirms-cancellation-of-a-title-168654.phtml
Rumor has it Starbreeze was working on a Syndicate game for EA, which sounds like it would be amazing. Hopefully the game that got canceled has something to do with Vin Diesel or gothic mafioso types.
puke...
I would think the opposite to be true. I guess it goes both ways.
Culturally we also have our lips n toungues so far down yer sphincters...
That when one a yer Royalty members croaks it might as well be
the queen/princess of America.
( if I never hear another redneck sobbing "princess" agin', it will not
have been soon enuff )
( say, compared to another "important/pivotal" late 90's Royal death like that of
King Hussein of Jordan? Who? Saddam Hussein of Jordan? )
From a muddy American person's point of view I would say,
Don't werry, We can be the most shamelessly Anglophile peoples on dis planet.
( The next award fer best picture goes to the period puketure with the british dialect )
errrrrr... Puke.
( ...not really, really to anything above. jes a slight alternative reality take )
And in edge magazine this month they have a very interesting article on uk games developers and publishers or lack of. The government should be looking into why it's so expensive to develop in the uk compared to other countries and try to get some publishing houses back instead of trying to promote Britain . Don't get me wrong, any help the uk can get in games development is good but why narrow it down so much.
Reminds me when the government came up with that amazing, trade in your old car and get £2000 or somet off a new car, what idiot thought that up seriously!!!! If we are in a recession and we got a car that's worth under 2k then where the fudge we gonna get 10k to buy a new car, most people are lucky enough to pay for their road tax which has gone up again!!!!!
Yeah but how specifically would a tax break, which in a round about way costs the rest of the tax payers money, be justified if it doesn't have any long term benefits other than enriching those game companies? It could be argued that increased nationalism would keep more brits from emigrating, and increase national morale, which is worth money spent. If it's just a handout, it's only the job benefits of the actual employees at the studios, which is such a tiny fraction of the population it's not really cost justified.
Obviously enforcing propaganda would be poor taste, but putting incentives for making the games more culturally relevant in order to get sweet tax relief isn't so horrible.
My former employer Funcom moved to Canada and they brough a LOT of staff from Norway who weren't Canadian. But I guess the more business in Montreal the better, and Funcom might actually start hire Canadians too as the studio grows. I don't think the UK system would allow things like this.
Slumdog Millionaire
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
The Dark Knight
If the tax break encourages publishers to enlist British studios for production, I'm all for it. Anything has got to be better than scratching around for whatever contract we can get at the moment, hoping that payments arrive in time so we can pay the rent.
BTW re the situation for contractors right now, it sucks:(
This is my 3rd year freelancing and it has been crap of late.
Even daily rates have gone down when working on advertising or film stuff
George Osborne has just announced that there will be no tax relief for the UK games industry.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10374867.stm
Its a real shame but i guess this method makes sense as when the whole economy becomes healthier the games sector will gain strength along with it.
And more fun cuts as regional development agencies look to be being abolished...
If Bush taught the world anything it was how not to balance a budget through tax breaks.
One of the key 'benefits' of this scheme that's being touted is that, essentially, new businesses could potentially gain a 'free' employee in terms of the money saved in NI contributions, and by choosing to employ and pay an additional member of staff as opposed to NI contributions. However, given the fact that normal NI contributions will resume after twelve months, if things aren't going very well for the new studio (or business, in other industries), or growth and investment aren't ramping up as quickly as they could be, the additional pressure of taking on an extra member of staff could be more harmful than helpful in the mid-to-long term.
I imagine many of the Britain-based polycounters are pissed. Osbourne pretty much went back on campaign promises, and has announced that none of the game industry tax breaks originally proposed are going to come to pass. Very sad.
Well, it looks like a lot of game industry companies and professionals previously located in England will likely be pulling up stakes and moving to Canada. The Canadian government has been very pro-active in appealing to the game development industry. They even have policies in place to make it easier for UK-based game companies and employees to re-locate. This shortcoming on the part of the UK Parliament could end up being a windfall for our neighbors in the North.
And I would remind any UK devs that US States like North Carolina are also very welcoming to prospective developers. I hear Raleigh is becoming a technological hub for the East coast. Since your own government doesn't seem interested in lending a hand, maybe its time for a trip across the pond.
Well, Mr Cleggy Weggy (My MP and the Deputy PM now) has a letter going his way on my opinions - I got some good, well thought out responses before now when I've contacted him in the past.
No tax breaks and even a rise of the VAT
Time for all the brits to have a serious look at canada perhaps?
Imagine how Sweden and Iceland feel with 25% :O