Did a global publisher prevent the UK video games tax breaks?
30 June 2010
In a shocking twist to the out come of the Budget last week it has been suggested that a mystery publisher lobbied the government to prevent the tax breaks going ahead.
Last week Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne revealed that the Coalition Government will not be implementing a tax break for video games in the emergency budget. However a story has been posted on the Develop website claiming that an insider has revealed that one of the biggest games publishers spoke to government official to prevent the tax breaks going ahead.
According to the story “this company had apparently viewed game tax relief as a measure that would have given the UK an unfair advantage over other nations.” Develop is treating the matter with care as it doesn’t want to reveal its sources but the implications of this are worrying for the UK games industry as the point of the tax breaks, according to nearly everyone interviewed on this site, was to bring about a level playing field with other countries such as Canada and France.
The journalist who wrote the story for Develop, Rob Crossley said: “[This means] that the debate on tax breaks for video games developers hasn’t been publicly discussed as it should be.”
Conservatives scrap video games tax breaks
23 June 2010
Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne revealed yesterday that the Coalition Government will not be implementing a tax break for video games.
In the emergency budget Osborne said that the Coalition Government has no plans to introduce tax breaks for the video games industry. He described the proposals for the scheme, which was announced by Alistair Darling in the Labour government's budget in March, as “poorly targeted".
This comes as a blow to the many video games developers in the UK and in particular to Tiga the video games trade association which has campaigned for video games tax breaks for over two years.
CEO of Tiga, Dr Richard Wilson said: “It’s a betrayal of the pre-election promises made by the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats – both parties pledged to introduce games tax relief before the general election. So we’re surprised and disappointment that they haven’t stuck to their promises.
“The video games industry is high technology, high skilled, export orientated, it’s low carbon output, it’s just the kind of industry of the future that the government should be supporting and it’s inexplicable that they have decided not to.
“There is still a tax break for the film industry in the UK and the oil industry in the North Sea. If you can have tax breaks in those sectors why can you not have a tax break for the video game industry?”
Battle in Motion
16 June 2010
As E3 rumbles on like the giant video game behemoth it is the three main press conferences from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo have now wrapped up.
Each company offered a vast array of new gadgets and games to look forward to in the coming months and years. Between the three there was a battle for motion control. Nintendo got there first with its Wii Motion Plus but now Microsoft and Sony are offering their own take on controller-less controls.
Microsoft’s Kinect uses 3D sensing cameras to put the player virtually into the game making their whole body a game controller. While Sony’s Move uses a ‘wand’ and the PlayStation Eye camera to track movement.
All three companies had new games to demonstrate the new technology and interfaces ranging from action games like Sorcery on the PS3 to fitness and dancing games such as Dance Central and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved on the Xbox 360. Nintendo demonstrated a new Legend Of Zelda game in which you control hero Link’s sword and shield.
As well as being a busy time for developers E3 is also very busy for journalists covering the event and sometimes this leaves them terribly jaded. News editor for Videogamer.com Wesley Yin-Poole said: “I feel child like excitement, exhaustion - both physically and mentally - and, now that the main three press conferences have been and gone, indifference. Walking around the show floor is disastrous for getting work done, but it's a great way of getting a sense for what's hot and what's not, just by virtue of queue lengths.”
For more information and opinion on E3 check out the blog
UK developers go west for Entertainment Expo
9 June 2010
There will be a wealth of British developers promoting their games at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.
E3, as it is commonly known, is the biggest event in the games industry calendar as nearly every developer and publisher in the world promotes their new games to industry professionals and the public.
Running since 1995 the event attracts upwards of 70,000 visitors all clamouring to get their hands on the latest developments in gaming and what will be available in the years to come.
For UK developers this is the event to demonstrate their latest games and this year will be no exception with developers such as Splash Damage (Brink), Codemasters (Bodycount) and Realtime Worlds (APB) all vying for space on the show’s floor.
It’s a busy time for developers. Creative designer at Dark Energy Digital, Rob Hewson said: "We're massively excited to be part of Microsoft's first party presence at E3 and can't wait for people to get to grips with Hydrophobia."
Studio manager at Realtime Worlds Colin MacDonald thinks it’s a mixed blessing: “The first day is always cool because there’s so much new stuff around... but by the third day you’re glad to be leaving. But as soon as you’re back you’re looking forward to the next year!”
Even smaller developers such as Team 17 find themselves in LA for E3 as creative director Martyn Brown states: “It’s useful to get up close and personal with the major players in terms of platform holders and decision makers and where we can gauge future strategy.”
E3 runs from 15 to 17 June at the Los Angeles Convention Center.