Mark Androvich
16:29 (BST)
19/03/2008
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PGR developer calls for UK tax credits
Cites financial pressure as part of the reason it chose to join Activision
Bizarre Creations, the developer of The Club, Geometry Wars and the Project Gotham Racing franchise, is calling for a tax cut for British developers.
In a statement on the company's website, Bizarre says that it fully supports the recent actions of TIGA, ELPSA, and others in asking the UK government to offer tax credits to British developers to keep their local industry competitive with those overseas.
Bizarre is also asking viewers to sign an online petition to Gordon Brown asking directly for these tax credits.
"...The UK has always been, and still is, a real hotbed of talent, producing some of the world's best selling games across many genres and formats," the company said in a statement.
"But it's getting harder and harder to be a developer or publisher in the UK, as increasing costs and global competition mean that everyone's under great financial pressure."
Bizarre noted that such pressure was a big part of the reason that the company chose to become part of Activision.
Even as part of a large publisher, however, it says that without active government support of the games industry, developing or publishing games in the UK is still stressful with current economic conditions.
Many publishers, it said, have taken advantage of financial incentives to move or set up development studios overseas, tempting awat talent.
"Of course, the games industry is a truly global marketplace, but undercutting incentives like this are extremely damaging to the UK games industry as a whole," Bizarre said.
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