UK Video Game Tax Cuts Sabotaged? 123
ninjacheeseburger writes "Develop recently published an article claiming that the UK government was put under pressure by one of the biggest game companies in the world to cancel planned tax breaks for video game developers. This company had apparently viewed game tax relief as a measure that would have given the UK an unfair advantage over other nations."
Re:Doesn't say who the game company is (Score:4, Interesting)
Doesn't name nay names (Score:2, Interesting)
The story doesn't make any sense, frankly.
They didn't bother to name "who" opposed/sabotaged the tax break, even though the only entity which could oppose it, according to the gist of the article, would be an outside entity, because only an outside entity would imply an unfair advantage towards UK gaming companies. But why would the outside entity not be named, if it is a UK article about UK gaming companies? How could an external company actually persuade UK politicians that it would be an unfair advantage to UK citizens that it would be unfair for a non-UK gaming company to have tax breaks?
I'm not saying ANYTHING on whether or not the tax break would be good or not; I'm saying it doesn't make sense that an external entity exerted their "power" to persuade UK politicians that it would be bad for the UK gaming industry if they were given tax breaks. I'm saying that it only makes sense if it were a UK gaming lobby which persuaded them.
Wait... (Score:2, Interesting)
"...This company had apparently viewed game tax relief as a measure that would have given the UK an unfair advantage over other nations."
Wait...over here in the US they're telling us that increasing taxes is an economic stimulus and will create jobs, stimulate investment, and grow the economy. Wouldn't increasing the gaming software sector's taxes be an incentive for growth instead of a burden if that's true?
Strat
Re:Doesn't say who the game company is (Score:4, Interesting)
Unfortunately linking a Gawker site ruins any credibility, funny, troll, or serious.
We all know it was Activision, after what Kotick did to Infinity Ward I wouldn't put anything past the fucktard.
He's destroying gaming brick by brick, and he knows it. All he cares about is how much money he makes, not any love of the games, industry or any altruistic reason. When someone comes out and says that a revenue stream for the company is it's lawyers, you have to think "do I really want to hand these guys my cash?". Worst thing is, that most don't think about that. The masses now game, so gaming companies care not for the culture, but for how many poor saps they can con into buying their products.
This story has done the rounds on many a gaming site and the general consensus is that it was Activision/Blizzard who stopped this massive tax break from happening.
I know I'm getting beyond TL;DR, but it's strange that a country trying to get out of recession would can a tax break that would have far reaching positive effects in the economy. I could only imagine how many development houses would gear up for major productions in the UK should this tax break go through. Then you see the trickle down effect give the economy a boost. It may not be as big as say opening a brand new copper mine, but it'll be a bigger shot in the arm than not allowing it to go through. The tax break would be offset no doubt by other taxes gathered from higher productivity.
The only reason to put a stop to this would be due to lobbying by a company (companies) that may be adversely effected by this. Maybe Activision are scared they may lose their top devs to new British start ups, maybe they'll lose them to already established British developers who can now afford more/better devs for bigger projects. It all makes sense. Then again, we'll never know. The new UK government is just as corrupt as the previous, and the next will be the same. As with all "developed" nations, the more money you have, the more you can corrupt the parliament.
Re:Game companies should come to India instead (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:And the other half of the story... (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.develop-online.net/news/34341/Tories-come-clean-Well-offer-tax-cuts-in-first-budget [develop-online.net]
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=244938 [computeran...ogames.com]