MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Are you British enough? Or specifically, is your game British enough to qualify for tax breaks? Well now you can find out, thanks to The British Film institute’s now-published guidelines that developers must pass in order to qualify. Here they are. A game needs to score 16 from the available …
Read More »No backdating for video games tax breaks
The Treasury has now confirmed that developers will not be able to claim back games tax relief. The claiming period will officially begin from April 1st 2014. A statement from UKIE read: "We can confirm that claims are not back dateable from the 1stof April 2013. Claims can be made …
Read More »Chancellor: Games tax relief one of the most generous in the world
Conservative MP and UK Chancellor George Osborne has said that today’s confirmation of video games tax breaks will create new jobs in the sector. This is a key industry of the future and I want Britain to be one of its biggest centres,” he said. 95 per cent of UK …
Read More »UK video games tax breaks – who qualifies?
At long, long last UK video games tax breaks are upon us, but who is it precisely that qualifies? The draft legislation calls the relief a ‘tax relief for video game development’. The legislation does not define the term ‘video game’ and the intention behind this was to avoid including …
Read More »EC approves UK video games tax breaks
Tax breaks for the UK video games industry are happening. The ‘will they won’t they?’ saga that has rumbled on for years has now been green lit, as previously confirmed by MCV last week. The European Commission has concluded that UK plans to grant certain tax relief to producers of …
Read More »Zuckerberg: Oculus will be a platform for many other experiences
Once there were PCs. Then there were mobiles. Next there will be virtual reality. That’s the prediction of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg who last night told investors following his acquisition of Oculus that the move was made with an eye on the long-term future of computing. [VR is] the next …
Read More »Budget could mean an end for 69p apps, cheap Steam games
As well as not ushering in tax breaks, last week’s Budget may have brought with it another bad piece of gaming news. As reported by The Guardian, the Chancellor also revealed plans to close a VAT loophole that was allowing the likes of Steam, Apple and Amazon to sell their …
Read More »REVEALED: The biggest UK games websites
2013 was a bumper year for the UK games media, but who came out on top? MCV has obtained the latest ComScore stats for the last 12 months, which shows that – perhaps unsurprisingly – IGN was the top UK video games website by a huge margin. It’s also a …
Read More »Negative game stereotyping ‘perpetuates social injustices’
BioWare gameplay designer Manveer Heir has called for a revolution in the way video games depict the world and tackle the issue of identity. Polygon reports that in an impassioned speech greeted with applause at GDC, Heir argued that video games – like any other creative industry – are not …
Read More »Tax breaks for UK games devs will happen despite Budget no show
It may have missed The Budget, but tax breaks for UK games developers will go ahead, MCV can reveal. High-level industry sources have told MCV that the European Commission has told UK Government officials that subsidies for production are approved, after a long-running investigation into whether they were really needed. …
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