The player: why tax breaks bring joy to gamers

Two lines in the recent budget speech brought joy to the UK games industry . "I will offer help to the computer games sector," said Darling; ". . . we need to keep British talent in this country". The news should also bring joy for gamers; without a move like this we will lose out on the productions of exciting, British-based companies that brought us treats including Grand Theft Auto, the Fable series, Little Big Planet, and bestselling iPhone game Rolando. According to Tiga, the industry's trade association, games contribute £1bn a year to the UK's GDP, but securing funding for new games can be tricky. Digital producer Mike Dicks told me "because there are no tax breaks in the UK, English-language production companies often try to secure funding from Canada, finding Canadian ancestry in the team". But what form should this help take? Dan Hon, co-founder of Six to Start, which won the Best Game award at the SXSW festival for the Channel 4-funded game Smokescreen , says the tax break needs to be equal to those in other countries. Montreal, for example, pays 37.5% of the salaries of games development staff. "That kind of tax break makes a real difference to a small company or a startup," says Hon. It's important to get this right. Currently, the UK has a thriving games industry with a growing pool of talent, but a brain drain to foreign countries has already begun. Australia, Canada, France, South Korea, and the US all offer tax incentives to games companies; the UK is not competing on a level playing field and is losing staff. Not all tax breaks are equal, but a well-designed one could ensure that we still have our games industry in 20 years' time.