Tax breaks cancellation KO's UK Games Industry

[PaulMacC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK5eZm_q9R0&playnext_from=TL&videos=-oFMlrtbuPI&feature=sub
Pathetic, Tory *****.

[Camy]

wow, why the **** did the english vote them in, they ruin everything.

[Fez]

"Poorly targeted tax relief for the videogame industry."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA, THEY KNOW NOTHING!

Game industry is the 1# growing stream of revunue, it is massive to our financial stability.

First Tory promise broke.

[samsaBEAR]

I voted Tory, I however do not like this

[dbgtz]

I never voted Tory before, and I never will.
God.

I want to see this budget in full (links?).

[Technologic]

Oh boo hoo, they don't get their tax breaks. We are in a recession, nobody deserves tax breaks

[dbgtz]

Were not in a recession
were just in debt as a country

[Ardemax]

yeah i was gonna say we're not in a recession

this is basiclly like pay cuts... some woman said on the prime ministers talks

this would lead me on to conclude:

why the duckety would the english vote these people in? hasn't history taught us anything

and......... why the hell are the lib dems following the tories like sheep :S

[MrPinkPanther]

For once I can't help but agree with the Conservatives. In my opinion the government has a duty to safeguard jobs but as Apeel has said himself the games industry is thriving. There are far more deserving ailing industries out there which tax breaks will help them survive, the video game industry is fine as it is. It is also a very straightforward industry, if a good game is developed then generally a significant amount of revenue is generated from it. Any video game companies that become threatened are threatened largely because they aren't producing good enough games and tax breaks won't change any of that. If anything getting rid of these kinds of ludicrous tax breaks of the video game industry and other industries will help them in the long run because the deficit will be reduced faster and as a result consumer spending will rise.


and......... why the hell are the lib dems following the tories like sheep :S
Debate goes on behind closed doors, it's likely the budget would have been a great deal more radical if the Lib Dems were not there, its why many of the changes are being put off until 2011 :).

[dbgtz]

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has warned that the company will cease to invest in the UK should the government fail to provide incentives or tax relief to the games industry.

The company, which owns UK studios Bizarre Creations and FreeStyleGames, recently joined TIGA with Kotick telling the Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/92b5e4c6-839d-11df-b6d5-00144feabdc0.html) that something needs to be done.

“For us to continue to invest in the UK there needs to be an incentive provided for us to do so,” he said. “The talent pool in the UK is among the best in the world for what we do. But we really need to see some more incentives.

“We are seeing great incentives in Canada, Singapore and eastern bloc countries.”

Sony UK head Ray Maguire is of the same thought, telling the paper the firm would continue with existing projects in the UK, but future projects “would have to be looked at”, adding that upcoming projects planned for the UK could possibly “go abroad”.

Six of Sony’s 15 studios are located in the UK, including Evolution Studios, Media Molecule, and SCE London to name a few.

Last week, it was announced that Chancellor George Osborne had canceled UK videogame tax relief and incentives, despite pre-election pledges made by the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party in support for games tax relief.

It was also rumored that a global publisher with incentives outside the UK sector had thrown a wrench in the incentive, but TIGA CEO Dr Richard Wilson laid the blame squarely at the feet of the UK Treasury.