French subsidies of the videogame industry may hop the channel and become adopted by the U.K., Tiga CEO Fred Hasson said.
Hasson said lobbying efforts will start this week and added that a British government decision on the matter is expected within a short time frame.
“We’re going to be going to the Ministries, including the Treasury, and asking them if they would now like to consider applying the same tax breaks that apply to film in the U.K., to the videogames industry,” he said.
France is considering offering game developers 20 percent cash rebates on development costs after losing companies to Canada because of subsidies available there.
“We have got a lot of anecdotal evidence to show that individuals are being targeted by the Canadian tax breaks in a very aggressive way,” Hasson said.
“The French lost half their industry to Canada in a period of about two years. I don’t think we’ve hit a peak yet in the U.K., I think that peak is coming any time now.”
Source: Gamesindustry.biz
Published: Dec 12, 2007 06:10 pm