Tax Breaks For Culturally British Games

[Logan Westbrook]

Tax Breaks For Culturally British Games

The UK government is to start offering tax breaks to British-based developers, providing they can pass a 'Britshness' test.

Britain hasn't been the best place for game developers when it comes to help from the government. Despite turnovers that are in the billions of pounds bracket, there has been little incentive to keep development in the country thanks to the lack of competitiveness compared to places like Canada.

But all that is about to change, as the recently released 'Digital Britain' report proposes that games should receive tax breaks as long as they can pass a test proving that they are 'Culturally British'. What this phrase actually means remains to be seen however and a lot will hinge on its definition.

A similar test [http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/culturaltest] has been in place for movies for some time, and has drawn some criticism for allowing clearly non-British works to qualify as 'Culturally British'. One thing is for certain though, this is going to save Peter Molyneux an awful lot of money.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/new-culturally-british-test-for-games]


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[Erana]

What about all those anime games that are british-themed?

 

[Sir Ollie]

Expect a remake for GTA London then.

 

[Unusual_Bulge]

One thing is for certain though, this is going to save Peter Molyneux an awful lot of money.

With his taste for God games and how Godlike we British are, I dare say you're right.

 

[Flunk]

Does this mean that if I move to England and start a game development company, that as long as the games are Britishy I qualify for a subsidy? Who sees more games set in England?

P.S. As for Peter Molyneux, they might as well just use his games as a barometer as to what qualifies as culturally British. His are the most Britishy games since Ultima*.

*If you don't get it, you're too young.

 

[scarbunny]

I guess by 'Culturally British' they mean the company its self has to be run in a "British" manner, i.e. minimum 40 hour weeks, no pension or health care, discrepancies between male and female pay for the same jobs, institutional racism, and free tea for everyone.

 

[GrinningManiac]

I guess by 'Culturally British' they mean the company its self has to be run in a "British" manner, i.e. minimum 40 hour weeks, no pension or health care, discrepancies between male and female pay for the same jobs, institutional racism, and free tea for everyone.

I hope not, I want GTA: London 1850 damnit!

 

[Brotherofwill]

Only game I can think of as culturally British is Henry Hatsworth

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

I guess by 'Culturally British' they mean the company its self has to be run in a "British" manner, i.e. minimum 40 hour weeks, no pension or health care, discrepancies between male and female pay for the same jobs, institutional racism, and free tea for everyone.

Hmm? I'd interpret it more as having the content of the game itself embody traditional British ideas, or represent the british culture (an difficult one to represent at the moment), or simply the game being located in Britain. Also, I think you're confusing Britain now with the 70s, and even then everyone had free healthcare.

 

[domicius]

I would posit that as long as you could prove that your game belonged to the same cultural heritage as some particular game of yore (not york), you should be safe.

So, for example, Pokemon UK - gotta sh*g them all!

 

[johnman]

Does this mean that if I move to England and start a game development company, that as long as the games are Britishy I qualify for a subsidy? Who sees more games set in England?

P.S. As for Peter Molyneux, they might as well just use his games as a barometer as to what qualifies as culturally British. His are the most Britishy games since Ultima*.

*If you don't get it, you're too young.

hahahaha

 

[scarbunny]

I guess by 'Culturally British' they mean the company its self has to be run in a "British" manner, i.e. minimum 40 hour weeks, no pension or health care, discrepancies between male and female pay for the same jobs, institutional racism, and free tea for everyone.

I hope not, I want GTA: London 1850 damnit!

Hell I don’t want another game set in London, bloody pansy southern softies, give me a gave set in Glasgow, or one set in Ireland about the "troubles"

 

[scarbunny]

I guess by 'Culturally British' they mean the company its self has to be run in a "British" manner, i.e. minimum 40 hour weeks, no pension or health care, discrepancies between male and female pay for the same jobs, institutional racism, and free tea for everyone.

Hmm? I'd interpret it more as having the content of the game itself embody traditional British ideas, or represent the british culture (an difficult one to represent at the moment), or simply the game being located in Britain. Also, I think you're confusing Britain now with the 70s, and even then everyone had free healthcare.

Ok so the health care bit was far fetched I admit that, but pay is very un-equal, even though the Equal Pay Act 1970 states that men and women should be paid equally a recent report found women are still paid up to 40% less than male counter parts. Racism is less an issue but still very prevalent, although in some cases it is "positive" discrimination, pensions are few and far between, and tea and coffee is abundant.

Also my first comment was mainly in jest, as a Briton myself.

 

[Logan Westbrook]

One thing is for certain though, this is going to save Peter Molyneux an awful lot of money.

With his taste for God games and how Godlike we British are, I dare say you're right.

I actually meant that, going by the criteria for movies, Lionhead games are about as culturally British as you can get.

 

[pigeon_of_doom]

Also my first comment was mainly in jest, as a Briton myself.

Right, damn this internet and the misunderstandings on it. While I don't quite agree with your opinion on those issues in Britain, I wasn't sure if you were someone who's based their opinion of Brits on the heavily accented villains in American action flicks or seeing the original Alfie the other day. The tea comment was the only one I knew for certain was a joke. The legendary British dry wit never seems to translate that well on the internet in my experience.

 

[Unusual_Bulge]

I actually meant that, going by the criteria for movies, Lionhead games are about as culturally British as you can get.

I know, I was only messing about with my comment. I went and had a look at the criteria for movies, and it seems that indeed a big part of the criteria is simply being made in the UK by people from the UK, which should be a good thing for all of the UK's game studios.

 

[John Funk]

So will we see the Professor Layton devs moving to England, then?

 

[timmytom1]

Does this mean that if I move to England and start a game development company, that as long as the games are Britishy I qualify for a subsidy? Who sees more games set in England?

P.S. As for Peter Molyneux, they might as well just use his games as a barometer as to what qualifies as culturally British. His are the most Britishy games since Ultima*.

*If you don't get it, you're too young.

Wasn`t that one of mr Garret`s games???

 

[PirateKing]

I saw the title of this and just had to check it out.
I can't wait to see a culturally British game.

 

[Somethingfake]

I'm British and the only culture I know of is being ambitious but rubbish, where nothing works and we moan all the time.