UK has extraordinary talent, says THQ, but opening studios is about money
One of the industry’s biggest publishers has put into bleak perspective the link between employment, investment, new studios and tax breaks in the UK.
Danny Bilson, THQ's executive VP for core games, today announced the opening of its new mega-studio in Canada’s subsidy-supported Quebec region. The offices are expected to create 400 new jobs.
And if the UK government hadn’t scrapped plans for game tax breaks, he says, THQ would have considered opening its studio in the UK.
“It's all about money," Bilson said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz
“There's no issue with talent; it's just economics - and if the government finds subsidies there, absolutely we would build out.
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In reference to the world-leading tax break rates that Canada’s Quebec region boasts, Bilson said: “I wish that Los Angeles or California would give us 37.5 per cent [tax break] on the labour; then we'd be building out here. If it was in Manchester we'd be building out there. If it was in Lyon, we'd be building out there.”
He added that the talent in the UK “is extraordinary”.
“I actually spent a couple of years of my career when I was helping out with the early days of the Harry Potter franchise with EA, I worked closely with the team there on the first three games. I got to know a lot of teams in the UK - it's one of the greatest talent centres in the world.”
UK trade body Tiga said today the absence of games tax relief continues to harm investment and job creation in the UK.
Tiga CEO Richard Wilson said THQ “has confirmed that the UK is losing out on jobs and investment because of the absence of tax breaks.
“High skilled jobs could be created in Manchester and Warrington. Instead they are being created in Montreal. The UK is not competing on a level playing field. Our key competitors, particularly Canada, have tax breaks for games production. The UK does not. We are losing in the global battle for job creation and investment.
“Crucially, as Danny Bilson said, the provision of a skilled workforce in the UK is not the issue. The UK’s development workforce is excellent. The key issue is money.”
THQ is not the only global publishing empire that spoke out against the UK government’s move to scrap tax breaks.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick recently said his firm needs financial incentives to keep encouraging it to invest in the UK - otherwise it'll start looking to build studios elsewhere.
No point going on about this, no one in government is listening. We can't even afford to defend ourselves anymore, why should they give video games companies tax breaks?
(That's rhetorical)
Indeed. Tiga are wasting time on this issue when we should be considering other forms of government help... ones we can afford.
I believe Canada first introduced tax breaks when they had a massive deficit. It's proved successful for them as you take more tax with subsidies than you do without.
Personally, I'd rather no country had subsidies & it was purely free market competition but I don't see Canada giving them up any time soon.
Er...wonder what that means for the Juiced guys?
Juice as we know it shut down ages ago to be replaced by THQ Digital, producing casual and downloadable games.
"THQ would have considered opening its studio in the UK"
They would have considered it, then rejected the idea. Nobody in their right mind would choose the UK over Canada, regardless of tax breaks.
THQ says "moan, moan, moan... pre-owned, pre-owned, pre-owned... tax breaks, tax breaks, tax breaks".
THQ needs to stop whining and get on with developing games. We're all getting tired of the constant drone of pitiful sob-stories.
Make something good enough, it will sell... maybe that's their problem.
"Nobody in their right mind would choose the UK over Canada, regardless of tax breaks"
Care to provide your reasoning for this statement?
This is just a THQ letdown excuse to say to the remaining ex Juice employees in Warrington that they will be given the opportunity to retain their positions, but only in Canada; using the tax break issue as a scapegoat.. get out before hand is all I can say.
