UK dev workforce could shrink by a quarter over 5 years
Latest TIGA doc submitted to govt continues call for tax relief
Developer trade association TIGA has said that the UK development workforce could shrink by a quarter between 2010 and 2015 if the government doesn't implement cultural tax relief for the sector.
The latest estimates come from a renewed push by TIGA as it submits an updated 85 page document to the government calling for cultural tax breaks.
According to the research, such relief could create and safeguard 3366 development jobs and £431 million investment. Headcount has fallen by 9 per cent in the UK since 2008 - when TIGA first submitted its case to the then Labour government.
"If the coalition government is serious about its intention of rebalancing the economy then it should invest in the UK videogames industry by introducing a tax break for games production," said CEO Richard Wilson.
"Games tax relief would create jobs, boost investment and generate much needed tax revenue for the government. The coalition government recognises the effectiveness of tax breaks because it already supports the UK film industry with a tax credit. It should adopt the same successful policy for the video games industry to enable our sector to make a powerful contribution to UK economic growth."
While TIGA continues to campaign for tax relief on behalf of the development community, the publishing sector adopts a more pragmatic approach - EA's Keith Ramsdale recently told GamesIndustry.biz that the government isn't likely to help out UK development during the current economic climate.
"We're not going to suddenly be handed a great big tax relief bill when the government's facing the economic issues it is - I think that cuts to the chase on this. The conversations we've had with government are pretty clear on this," he said.
The division between publishers and developers has been cited as one of the reason why the government is not aiding the sector, as TIGA and UKIE are unable to present a united front.
TIGA believes that cultural tax relief would create around 1328 new jobs over five years in the development studio sector, increasing investment in studios by £138 million. It also claims 2427 "indirect jobs" would be created with annual tax revenues rising by £126 million and a contribution to GDP of £307 million.
Cultural tax relief could save a further 2038 direct jobs and 3726 indirect jobs, £293 million in development expenditure, £267 million in tax revenues and £649 million in GDP contributions according to TIGA estimates.
As it is, we'll probably end up losing most of our industry unless something is done very soon. And, in time, Canada will too, once their tax breaks get abolished, or the government refuses to give the big studios breaks at the level they seek. At that point, I'd have thought they'd presumably just up sticks and leave for Asia. Long term, the Canadian tax breaks have helped no one, and simply succeeded in distorting the market.
Shame on other publications for their incessant Canada specials etc.
Many people I have spoken to though have claimed that poor development practices, inconsistency or reactionary tactics to market conditions that affect certian product development cycles (competing product having a new feature, release schedules for competitive games, etc), and general bad decision making often have a much greater impact on the marketplace.
As an example of how things haven't been all bad for the UK marketplace, since we are talking about Cananda in relation to this also, NFS' primary product Hot Pursuit (or whatever xmas release is in store for us) has since been shipped to two UK studios. Because the quality is there, and quality products with proper marketing campaigns sell....and sell well. It's by no means 100% accurate as some recent studios have seen and this obviously unfair and very unfortunate, but this is an example of a product brought ONTO UK shores and has benefited through improved sales and brand image in the marketplace. A value that could be argued has brought in more money to develop games in the future than potential tax breaks would if you had to compare the two side by side.
Also the current market means that the government needs to stimulate growth across the board, and as such this might indirectly help the games industry over the next few years as business and spending increases, leading to publishers investing in more products. We may be more expensive, but we do have experience. Some companies have been stung by utilising cheap outsourcing options abroad where there simply isn't the experience, and production can take longer or the quality is not there (This will change in time though, of course and certainly outsourcing is definitely the way to go to manage dev costs, as long as the service provider itself has the experience and is up to the task).
Not saying any of this is a proper analysis but it seems to make sense to me, and is just my thoughts in the mix.
I do appreciate that some games just don't get the run they deserve despite positive reviews, marketing, etc.
I sure hope Vanquish's sales have picked up because that game is really something else!
please not im not criticising any other country for their quality im a huge Bioware fan myself but to let such British talent go to waste well makes me feel ashamed
Also it's not just about the money. As someone who moved to Canada from England, would I come back if I could get the same money? No! Life is so much better out here. Looking out the window right now I can see snow capped mountains, not traffic crawling along the M42.
Sorry for the rant but things are getting a little one-sided here.
Also to this whole debate I think students dont care about location or situation as long as a job can be presented, I mean I know its going to take me 5-10 years to get anywhere decent within this industry. The only option I can see graduates in the games industry having right now is testing positions or trying to set up a small games company anyway but wait i guess this is where the tax break would come in handy to do so, so either way graduates graduating this year and for the new few are going to be like bums looking for their next hot meal
Adding to this comment, the biggest win for me was producing my own indy game(s )in my spare time aswell as the work i was requied to do on my course. Showing you can finish a project and release it (i.e. XBLIG) helps leaps and bounds when applying for jobs. I just found people on my course that were willing to put the time and and make something with me so it would be well worth doing something like that.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Jay Walton on 26th January 2011 11:43pm
To me, it seems this only illustrates the divide between developers and publishers all the more. Tax breaks would benefit developers in the main, not publishers, which is presumably why UKIE aren't interested in pushing for them. UKIE are probably right that it's a waste of time, but would it hurt to lend their support to TIGA, even if only voiced as backing and they don't actually do anything tangible to help?
Also, I do find it interesting that it is EA saying we shouldn't have tax breaks, since as a developer as well as a publisher surely they would benefit, as they presumably have done with Canada's system?
As an ex-Ubi Montrealer said to me in an email recently "it's a bit rich to go on about the industry booming when it's only because of government handouts".
@ Sean - tax breaks would help publishers too, even if only to minimise their losses on bad projects.
In addition, the size of our developers will need to be slightly smaller to be totally efficient and robust.
This will help offset the NI rise, allow for more job retention and maximise tax liability.
Next gen tech development should be encouraged (and allow for investment opportunities and increased involvement of the Technology Strategy Board http://www.innovateuk.org/) to allow us to develop cross platform applications and engines such as Unity, or cross platform payments, integration, user retention, promotional and cross media involvement.
Currently, technology is poorly invested in (or rather seen as a high risk) within the City whereas we let outsiders like Rusnano invest 25% in Plastic Logic (large investment by the Russian and Chinese govt) in a leader in next gen tech of plastic microchips, forecasted to have a 1bn tunroever by 2016.
It doesnt help that David Willetts, the UK science minister stating the UK government would NOT invest $650m to help expand a tech company. Perhaps that is realistic, but some investment is better than NO investment. Another example was the sale of QinetiQ for a bargain basement discount, and UK gold, etc.....
:)