UK games tax relief campaign

11 January 2010

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, said today that it would continue to champion the case for Games Tax Relief or an equivalent fiscal measure in the run up to the next General Election and beyond. TIGA also promised to continue its campaign for other actions to be taken to support the games industry, including steps to enhance education and skills and to promote industry-university knowledge transfer.

TIGA made the commitment following a statement by the Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, that: We [the Government] will continue to look at the industry's case for a change to tax treatment. Mr Timms MP made the remark in a debate on the Pre-Budget Report in the House of Commons on 7th January, which included a reference to TIGA.\

Jason Kingsley, Chairman of the TIGA board and CEO and Creative Director of Rebellion Studios, said:

TIGA will continue to lead the campaign for Games Tax Relief or a similar fiscal measure in the run up to this years General Election and beyond. TIGAs vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business. This demands fiscal reform. TIGA welcomes the Rt Hon Stephen Timms positive remarks in respect of continuing to look at the tax regime governing the industry. We will be meeting with Treasury officials shortly to strengthen the industrys case for Games Tax Relief.

The argument for Games Tax Relief remains strong. Data recently published by M2 Research shows that there were an estimated 11,488 global job losses in the games industry between late 2008 and 2009. The USA accounted for 71 per cent of these losses. Europe accounted for 13 per cent of redundancies, with the UK making up 81 per cent of the European total. Conversely, Canada suffered a mere 2 per cent of game studio layoffs. The favourable tax environment in Canada undoubtedly helped the Canadian games industry to weather last years economic storm.

Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:

The forthcoming General Election will give TIGA a great opportunity to raise the industrys profile amongst parliamentary candidates of all major political parties. Results are achieved by perseverance. TIGA will therefore continue to fly the flag of our creative, innovative and successful industry amongst policy makers in order to achieve measures that make a tangible difference to our sector.

Ends

Notes to editors:

For the debate on the Pre-Budget Report, see Hansard, official report, January 8th 2010, column 368, available at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100107/debtext/100107-0020.htm

M2 Research (The Brief, January 5th 2010) estimates that 11,488 layoffs occurred world-wide between late 2008 and the end of 2009. The USA bore the brunt of these job losses (71 per cent of the total). Europe came second, suffering 13 per of global layoffs, with the UK constituting 81 per cent of the regions losses.