Tax cuts for the game industry?
Recently, game developers all over Europe have been calling their governments for industry tax cuts. This is not unnatural due to sharp competition and cruel economic recession, but it may prove a formidable invesment for governments to enrich cultural prosperity.
The largly privatly owned video game industry provides a cultural aspect of modern civilization. As film and litterature is already largly subsidised and easily treated tax-wise, why are not video games recognized in this very same manner?
It is a paradox, that one of the fastest growing and most profitable branches of cultural development, is left almost completely unstimulated by public spending.
During the recent X10, British game designer Peter Molyneux called the UK government for tax cuts in order to stimulate the national gaming industry. Molyneux states that “It is just crazy that the British government does not recognize the games industry as a creative industry in the way it recognizes others.”
This does not only have to do with the desire of video game develoers to profit more from their games. It is not about throwing money at the big game publishers like Activisino Blizzard and Electronic Arts.
Government money in the pots could also encourage developers to take greater risks and innovate the video game as a medium.
Molyneux states further that “The UK has a great heritage of invention and creativity, it’s just the rest of the world have a great heritage of recognizing that properly and it frustrates the hell out of me.”
Doesn’t he have a point?
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