Category: Video Games Tax Break

UK games tax break: how big will the pot be?

Develop carries a piece on the UK games tax break which is a useful reminder of how much government cash we’re talking about here.  They say (based on the government’s budget report) that:

“Labour will pay £50 million in the 2011 fiscal year for game development tax breaks, and a further £40 million will be offered up twelve months later.”


So, at present, the total games tax pot will be £90m.  Developers (and probably publishers too), you know what to aim at.  Now we’ve just got to get past the election, work out how much the new government is willing to pony up (i.e. would the Tories match the £90m commitment?) and then get the tax break off the ground…


On that subject, have a look at this article on the games tax break in Hollywood-focused web site Deadline, which features a comment from Olswang’s Cliona Kirby (who literally knows all there is to know about the films tax break and is helping build the games tax break, too!)


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UK games industry wins videogames tax break, faces challenges

The UK government has announced in today’s pre-election budget plans to introduce a tax break for the UK games industry, but there will be real challenges to be overcome before the games industry can take advantage of the new tax relief.
The announcement

As we said yesterday, even up until the announcement itself there was still uncertainty as to whether the government would go for or against the tax break, or adopt a halfway position.  The Chancellor, Alastair Darling, said when announcing the new measure:

“I will offer help to the computer games sector, similar to the steps which are helping restore the fortunes of the British film industry…This is a highly successful and growing industry, with half its sales coming from exports, and we need to keep British talent in this country.”
UPDATE: MCV gives Rockstar Games as a good example, suggesting that if the estimated cost of GTA IV was $100m, and given the estimated typical saving for films qualifying for relief is at around 16 per cent of their total production budget, that could mean Rockstar could potentially save around £10.7m if the next game is set in the UK.

Sounds good, eh?  But we’re a long way from those kinds of considerations.  At the moment, nothing really has been given away yet about what form the government thinks the tax break should take.  It’s clear though that there a lot of challenges to be overcome before games companies can take advantage of the games tax break:

Challenge 1  – the election
Obviously, the tax break will need to survive the forthcoming election – whether by way of a Labour win or a new Conservative government also signing up to the tax break.
Challenge 2 – EU approval
The government will need to overcome EU legal issues regarding state aid.  In a nutshell, EU Member States cannot take action to favour their domestic industries over other Member State industries unless they have EU clearance to do so. One of the bases on which this clearance can be obtained are ‘cultural’ grounds – which is how we saw the UK films tax credit being cleared (more on that below). It could potentially take months after the election for this EU approval to be obtained.
Challenge 3 – the structure of the games tax break
This raises a host of important questions, which will have to be dealt with through government consultation with the industry:
  • What form will the games tax break take? The Chancellor has said it should be based on the films tax credit which after a lot of research on the matter, we think is the most efficient way to deliver the tax break.  But how will this be tailored to the unique features of the games industry?  Just as importantly, what lessons can be learned from the implementation of the films tax credit?
  • Given the EU legal considerations (see above), the key test for obtaining the tax break will be whether it would promote “culturally significant video games that might not otherwise be made in the UK“.  The government will need to set out guidance as to what that means for games. 
  • That said, it does not just mean “GTA: Weston-Super-Mare”!  A wider definition of ‘culturally significant’ has become widespread in the films industry and the same logic could be applied to games.  For examples, games which reflect European culture (e.g. Empire: Total War) could qualify or games which are made in the UK and thereby could be said to reflect UK culture even if they don’t specifically refer to the UK (e.g. the forthcoming MMO APB).  In other words, the test could be whether the game is sufficiently linked to the UK and therefore to UK culture, not whether the games are about UK culture.  This will boil down to the government trying to tread a fine line between complying with the law while still making the tax relief useful.  With the films tax credit, the government has adopted a points-based system, which they could also do with games.
  • Who will benefit from the tax break?  There is a good case for arguing that both games developers and publishers based in the UK and overseas (provided the game is made in the UK) should be entitled to benefit so that the relief encourages both inward investment and the UK indigenous games industry to achieve its aims.
  • How will games be defined for tax break purposes?  Clearly, games must be defined broadly enough to encompass the myriad of games currently available (across an array of platforms) and those developed in the future.  There’s lots of talk in the blogosphere about how difficult this could be, and clearly a lot of thought will be needed, but it’s by no means impossible.  Governments and lawyers have to deal with far more difficult drafting exercises all the time.
  • How much will the tax break be worth?  It needs to be high enough to encourage continued game development in the UK by existing players and new companies to start making games here, but not so high the Treasury balks at it.
  • Lastly, what types of development spend will qualify for tax relief?  How will this interact with the research and development tax reliefs?
  • Who will administer the tax break? Will the government set up a new body or use an existing body?  There has been speculation that the Film Council could step in to adminster the games tax break, for example. 
All of these matters can be resolved through sensible consultation between the government and the games industry.  But the point is that it shows there will be a deal of work to be done in scoping out in detail how the games tax credit will work in practice.

What’s next?

The Labour government will need to announce some form of consultation with the industry to discuss these issues further.  In reality, that won’t happen until after the election.  At the same time, the games industry will be looking for some firm commitment from the Conservatives to the tax break in case they win the election instead.  In the meantime, we can expect to see industry figures and bodies making their own proposals as to how the tax break should work.  Anyway you look at it, you’ll be seeing more on the games tax break generally (and on this blog) in the coming weeks and months.

Interested in tax breaks?

In the meantime, if you’d like to discuss the tax break or how it could work for you, you can contact us here.

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UK games industry waits for games tax break announcement

The UK games industry is waiting to see whether tomorrow the Government will announce a games tax break in its last budget before the forthcoming 2010 general election.

In his December 2009 pre-budget report, the Chancellor Alastair Darling failed to make any formal announcement introducing a games tax break, despite significant industry support and lobbying for the measure.  At the time, the Government said it felt there was insufficient evidence in support of the benefits of the tax break, particularly in the current recession.  Then, early this year, Conservative MP Ed Vaizey suggested that a games tax break would not be a “top priority” if his party won the election.  That seemed to be an end to the matter.

But, in fact, green shoots have been growing since then.  In February 2010, Labour MP Tom Watson (well known to gamers and this blog as a champion of the games industry) filed a Parliamentary motion requesting the Government to pass a games tax break.  Also in Febuary 2010, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the UK games industry was “leading the way” in Europe as “by far the biggest producer of computer games”. He also added that “there will be new commitments of investment” off the back of this week’s Global Investment Conference in London.

Then, earlier this month, Stephen Timms (Minister for Digital Britain) said to Gamesindustry.biz that the Government would “be able to provide an update of where we’ve got to” regarding tax breaks for the industry on March 24th.  According to the Telegraph, he also said that the government was looking to support businesses that could drive Britain out of recession and that there was “no doubt that the computer games sector is one part of the economy where we can see very good prospects for growth in the future”.

So, hopes are mounting that there may be something in this budget for the games industry.  Really? Fundamentally, there doesn’t appear to have been a sea change in the facts since the Govt last rejected a games tax break, but perhaps there has been enough movement in the right direction (and we are close enough to the election and the consequent need for good news) for the Government to feel able to announce a tax break, the details of which will have to be worked out later on.  Or perhaps it will simply announce a formal consultation into setting up a games tax break, which is perhaps more consistent with Stephen Timm’s quote about providing “an update of where we’ve got to” and reports that the Chancellor has no “giveaways“ in this budget.

Well, we’ll know one way or the other by tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, if you are interested more generally in the budget then tomorrow afternoon you might like to keep an eye on Olswang’s budget blog here (admission: I work for Olswang!)

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UK games tax break not Tories’ top priority

At the Westminster eForum meeting in London yesterday on the state of the UK games industry (which I attended), Ed Vaizey, Conservative shadow minister for culture and the creative industries, made it quite clear that if a Conservative government comes into power this year the UK games industry is unlikely to see any movement towards a UK games tax break for 2-3 years.  He said that a tax break for the UK games industry is simply not one of the Tories’ top priorities, compared to the challenges presented by the present recession.  (In December 2009, the present Labour government confirmed it has no plans to introduce a UK games tax break in this term).


In a wide-ranging panel discussion, Ed Vaizey also covered:

  • his hopes for the industry bodies TIGA and ELSPA to work together, or even be merged, in the future
  • the controversial possibility that the UK Film Council could adopt a role in representing the games industry (and possibly the games industry could thereby obtain access to National Lottery funding – an important source of film financing)
  • Conservative plans for broadband penetration in the next few years (he compared the current Labour plans of universal 2mbps by 2012 rather unfavourably to curren broadband already available in Asia)

My thoughts more generally on the Westminster eForum, which went over a lot of ground from digital distribution to games education to tax breaks, are here.

Confirmed: UK Govt rejects games tax break

UK Chancellor Alastair Darling has rejected granting a tax break to the games industry. It had been hoped that his Pre Budget Report (more on that here) would introduce the tax break, which has been the subject of substantial lobbying from the games industry and has received cross-party political support. This result will of course be disappointing to the industry, but not entirely unexpected.

Cliona Kirby, a Tax Partner at Olswang who has advised the games industry regarding the proposed tax break, said (over at Olswang’s Pre Budget Report Blog) said:

“It is incredibly disappointing that after months of lobbying from the games industry the Government has rejected our calls for a tax break to incentivise games development in the UK. The UK’s position as a world leader has been eroded as other countries such as France and Canada encourage both games companies and our creative talent to relocate with the offer of targeted tax breaks. The effect of such continued corporate migration would be a loss of revenues derived from the profitable games industry for the Treasury. In my view we should be encouraging new and innovative games to be made in the UK. Cross party political support for this area remains strong and I will continue to lobby alongside the industry to keep this on the political agenda. I hope that we will be able to persuade the Government to extend the existing film tax credit regime to games on the basis we described in our recent paper.

There was a small piece of good news for the industry because changes have been made to the R&D rules which remove the IP ownership requirement for SMEs which should make it easier for games companies to claim R&D tax credits on their development spend.”

UK to refuse to grant games tax break

The Guardian reports that the UK Government is expected to reject including a tax break for the UK games industry in its Pre-Budget Report to be published today (the Pre-Budget Report has become in recent years one of the best indications as to the Government’s proposals for the next year’s budget – if it is in the Pre-Budget Report, chances are it will be in the next Budget too).

This is a bit of the shame, as other countries’ governments have really boosted their national games industries through tax breaks (akin to tax breaks for other creative industries such as film) – industry bodies such as TIGA and ELSPA had lobbied hard for a similar tax break for the games industry.  Still, it’s always possible that things might be different if a new government comes in after the general election next year.

Olswang has done a lot of work advising the industry on the proposed games tax break/how it could work, and has put together a Pre-Budget Report blog which they’ll be updating as the report comes out.  Here it is: http://olswangbudgetblog.wordpress.com/.