Compared to 2018, the cost of tax benefits increased by 189%: a year ago, representatives of the gaming industry wrote off “only” 202 million pounds. The number of supported games has also grown to 247.
Nevertheless, the number of projects that have received intermediate certification has decreased. In 2018, there were 174 of them, and in 2019 – only 139. This is explained by the fact that many game companies are preparing to switch to the new Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles.
British Association UKIE also noted that the total budget of supported games has quadrupled, to 1.16 billion pounds. At the same time, the share of expenses attributable to the United Kingdom decreased from 76.5% to 50.2%.
Experts regard this as an indication that the British branches of gaming studios are part of multinational projects. And in the absence of a tax incentive program, they might not even get into the kingdom.
The Video Games Tax Relief program was conceived as an aid to small British studios that make games based on British or European culture. The first time they talked about her after Rockstar Games was accused of tax evasion.
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