Tax relief lost for Games Industry as Realtime Worlds get ready to launch APB
Games Industry tax relief see's a sudden reversal as Osbourne reverses March decision.
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As Realtime Worlds concentrates on releasing APB, its latest game, the Scottish Games industry today heard that George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is to abandon plans to incentivise video game development using targeted tax relief. His plans to scrap the tax relief formed part of his emergency budget announced today (22/6/2010).
The Scottish Games industry is likely to feel at best slightly confused by the sudden turn around, it was only March when the intent to support the industry was first announced by former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling. The tax relief had been intended to operate in a similar manner to that of the Film Industry which given the production and screen play qualities of high end games seems justifiable.
Dundee has long been regarded as the Games Capital of Scotland and has enjoyed governmental support in the past – most notably a £2.5mn support package in December of 2009. Nonetheless, the removal of the hard won tax relief is bound to cause some angry reactions.
The disappointing announcement for the games industry coincides with interesting events at Realtime Worlds who originated and still grow in Dundee with offices also in Boulder, Colorado. Gaming fans will already be familiar with the pedigree of Realtime who boast a back catalogue which includes titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Lemmings. However, with online technology providing endless possibilities with regard the disintermediation of traditional supply chains, Realtime are about to re-invent themselves as a games publisher when they release their latest title APB.
Moving into online games publishing has clearly required a significant investment in infrastructure for the business - online software distribution, customer support and billing systems all being developed to cope with the shift in business model. It is clearly a significant investment for the business but also signals the possibilities for games and software businesses generally operating from a Scottish base. This huge investment in infrastructure shows that the games and indeed software industry generally has huge scope to grow as new opportunities present themselves due to shifting business models.
EA will be distributing the physical product on behalf of Realtime (as opposed to the downloadable option) from June 29 2010 in North America – full press release below.