Budget comment: on games tax relief

The UK games industry was the big winner in the March 2010 Budget with the Government announcing its intention to introduce games tax relief to support our highly successful and innovative games industry. This is fantastic news for the industry whose position as a world leader in games development is being eroded by other countries such as France and Canada.

Whilst implementation of the relief will be not be quick due to the upcoming election and obtaining the European Commission's approval of the relief (which typically takes 18 months from first notification) this is a positive first step in the right direction. There is currently little detail available and as always the devil is in the detail. The next steps will involve a more detailed consultation with the games industry.

Assuming the Government chooses to adapt the film tax credit...