Association representing publishers says Government has 'missed an opportunity' to introduce production tax credit
UK Chancellor Alastair Darling has today delivered his Budget - but not included any concessions to the games industry as has previously been demanded by numerous voices in the sector.
Last week, new CEO of independent developer association Tiga Richard Wilson said it was imperative that the Government introduce a production tax credit akin to those already in place in Quebec and now viable in the EU following an OK of France's own state-run games fund late last year.
With the Budget set for the year, ELSPA - which represents publishers - has spoken out, saying it is disappointed the Government has not made a formal pledge to support the games industry.
Paul Jackson, director general of the organisation, commented: "We are disappointed that the Chancellor missed the opportunity today to offer French-style tax breaks to UK developers.
"However, positive discussions continue with the Treasury and we are hopeful of persuading them of the economic argument to support our case in due course."
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Oh well, looks like we might as well all move to Quebec. Houses are cheaper, and you can go skiing. What's not to like?
Is it really any surprise that this government has ignored our industry again. The rot started in 1998 when it stopped us using consultants rather than employees as the bulk of our workforce, which crippled our flexibility in a notoriously unpredictable industry regarding staffing level requirements which are often out of our hands as developers. Meaning flexibility of staff is paramount to survival and profitability, even if a lead programmer usually does need to work as a consultant for the same company for one year straight to actually finish a project.
Considering it was recently officially reported that it has taken the government 12 years to realise that they have ruined the quality of our national education system when any parent could have told you that 10 years ago, I anticipate that it will be at least another 3 years before they embark upon a report into just what has happened to our games industry. That is of course if they ever realise that we are actually a group of people trying to build something together and not just another diminishing import and export statistic.
In my opinion this government is not deliberately bad or evil, it is just blindly and incompetently selling the family silver to invest in fool's gold from overseas. And unfortnately our industry at present is just part of that process.
