Supporting the Break

The question of a unified, easily understood and easily accessed tax break for game development is not, therefore, a question of propping up an industry in decline. It's not about throwing good money down the drain to keep failing businesses open. It is, quite simply, about making sure that the UK remains a market leader in a rapidly growing and increasingly important media and technology sector. The pie is growing every year - the challenge to the UK government is to find a way to make sure that our slice of it doesn't shrink.

That, at a fundamental level, is absolutely the role of government. I fully agree with those who mutter darkly about public funds being diverted to the support of failing industries - while there can occasionally be strong social arguments for doing so, it warps the business environment and can end up creating even bigger problems and sucking away even more public money down the line. However, the government's role where expanding markets are concerned is to ensure that Britain is a competitive, attractive place to do business, and to ensure that this country gains as much benefit as possible from these sectors.

Moreover, it's increasingly clear that the "begging bowl" metaphor is deeply disingenuous. Developer trade body TIGA is, of course, an interested party, and its figures must be considered in that light - but the maths behind its most recent report, which argued that a clearly defined tax break would pay for itself twice over in the space of five years, is convincing. On top of creating employment, keeping highly skilled jobs and personnel within the UK and improving the nation's balance of trade, the Treasury would actually end up over GBP 200 million better off. It's not a begging bowl - it's an invitation to invest in an industry with a proven track record of high returns.

It remains to be seen whether the present government will respond to that request. So far, the Labour government's response to the industry has been confused at best. Despite being obsessed with courting the film and music industries - even effectively offering major changes to our copyright laws to please these lumbering dinosaurs - the much more innovative and rapidly growing games business has enjoyed far less attention. Conservative shadow minister Ed Vaizey makes encouraging noises about what his party would do, assuming they win power at the next election (by no means a certainty at this point), but words said before elections are, of course, rather different to actions after elections.

Pressure must be maintained both on the government and the opposition to make these changes to the tax regime happen. The argument is clear and persuasive - the UK government has a genuine responsibility to support the games industry, not by throwing money at developers or propping up failing businesses, but simply by providing a level playing field. British developers have spent decades proving that, on a level pegging with their overseas rivals, they can punch vastly above their weight and deliver huge benefits to the nation and its economy. The government owes them a chance to continue demonstrating that world-beating ability.