UK tax breaks voted the best in Europe

A new survey from GDC Europe has showed overwhelming approval for the UK's tax incentives, which were only approved by the European Commission in March this year.

In a survey of more than 400 European developers and industry professionals, 47 per cent saw the tax incentives available in the UK as the best in Europe. And the margin of victory was impressive, with Finland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands all placing a joint second on 9.5 per cent of the vote.

This is an encouraging sign for the UK games industry, which finally secured Games Tax Relief in March after years of lobbying by trade bodies like UKIE and TIGA. Nevertheless, Canada's tax incentives are still seen as more attractive than the UK, according to comments submitted by the survey's participants.

Mobile and PC were again the most popular, with 58 per cent and 65 per cent of developers currently working on games on those platforms.

On console, the PlayStation 4 remained a more attractive proposition than the Xbox One: 18 per cent of developers are currently making games for the PS4, and 33 per cent planning to do so in the future. By contrast, only 13 per cent are making games for the Xbox One, with 23 per cent intending to work on the platform.

The survey also indicated that, while crowdfunding is still very much a niche among European developers, it may be poised for rapid growth. At present, only 10 per cent of developers are using crowdfunding for their current projects, but 41 per cent intend to do so in the future.