Gaming industry repeats tax relief call

By Alistair Houghton on Jan 11, 10 12:00 PM

VIDEO gaming trade association TIGA has today welcomed news that the Government is still considering implenmeting a tax relief scheme for the sector.
TIGA (The Independent Game Developers Association) has led a campaign for Games Tax Relief. It says that without it, the sector could see jobs and investment move to countries such as Canada where tax relief is provided.
The sector is vital to Merseyside and Cheshire, where hundreds are employed at companies such as Bizarre Creations and Sony.
Last week LDP Creative reported that TIGA's chief executive Dr Richard Wilson was still pushing for tax breaks to be introduced, even though they were not included in last year's Pre-Budget Report.

Last Thursday, Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms said: "We [the Government] will continue to look at the industry's case for a change to tax treatment."
Today Jason Kingsley, chairman of the TIGA board and CEO and creative director of Rebellion Studios, said: "TIGA will continue to lead the campaign for Games Tax Relief or a similar fiscal measure in the run up to this year's General Election and beyond.
"TIGA's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business. This demands fiscal reform.
"TIGA welcomes Mr Timms' positive remarks in respect of continuing to look at the tax regime governing the industry. We will be meeting with Treasury officials shortly to strengthen the industry's case for Games Tax Relief.
"The argument for Games Tax Relief remains strong. Data recently published by M2 Research shows that there were an estimated 11,488 global job losses in the games industry between late 2008 and 2009.
"The USA accounted for 71 per cent of these losses. Europe accounted for 13 per cent of redundancies, with the UK making up 81 per cent of the European total.
"Conversely, Canada suffered a mere 2 per cent of game studio layoffs. The favourable tax environment in Canada undoubtedly helped the Canadian games industry to weather last year's economic storm."
Dr Wilson said: "The forthcoming General Election will give TIGA a great opportunity to raise the industry's profile amongst parliamentary candidates of all major political parties.
"Results are achieved by perseverance. TIGA will therefore continue to fly the flag of our creative, innovative and successful industry amongst policy makers in order to achieve measures that make a tangible difference to our sector."