TIGA calls for further tax relief and funding for game devs

Industry trade body TIGA is calling on the government to introduce further tax relief and funding schemes for the game industry.

The trade body’s five key proposals for the pre-Budget report also include a Creative Content Fund and regional and national game development incubators to encourage the formation of new start-ups.

The full list of proposals can be found below.

1. A Prototype Fund should be made available to enable start-up studios to access finance and develop playable prototypes.

2. A Creative Content Fund (CCF) should be established in order to encourage new studio formation, stimulate creativity, new content development and IP generation. The CCF could make loans available to games businesses on a pound for pound, matched funding basis. Both the Prototype Fund and the CCF could be financed via the National Lottery.

3. An Export Tax Relief should be introduced to incentivise more small firms to export, thereby promoting export-led economic growth. The Export Tax Relief should be based on the existing Patent Box scheme and would entail a competitive tax rate (e.g. 15 or 10 per cent) on the profits generated from exports.

4. Regional/National Games Development Incubators should be established at a university or at a consortium of universities in each of the English regions and in each of the nations within the UK to enable more successful start-ups.

5. A pilot Training Tax Relief (TTR) should be introduced for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). TTR would operate in a similar way to the existing R&D tax credits and would enable SMEs to offset expenditure on training, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for staff and education outreach activities against corporation tax.