Developer trade body Tiga has claimed that the 2009 budget fails the British games industry and that Chancellor Alistair Darling has 'missed a trick' in effectively ignoring one of the UK's most productive and profitable creative sectors.
Tiga boss Richard Wilson says the Labour government have been guilty of "failing again to back one of the principal creative industries of the future."
Wilson wants to see a 20% tax break on games production, following the lead of the French government, but no mention of such tax cuts were made in this year's budget announcements this week.
"It is disappointing that while Alistair Darling plans to spend £671bn over the coming financial year, he could not find the £150 million over five years to invest in the tax break for games production," Wilson told MCV.
"The Government has missed a trick. Videogames are a growing sector and the UK games development sector is still world-beating," he added.
Glimmers of hope
However, there was a glimmer of hope in the announcement of a £750 million Strategic Investment Fund, £50 million of which is set to be allocated to the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), and £10 million to UK Trade & Investment (UKT&I) to support exporters..
Tiga plans to work with UKTI's Tradeshow Access Programme to supporting UK devs looking to exhibit at overseas trade shows.
So if you still have to figure out a way of funding that E3 trip to nab a publisher for that game you've been slaving over in your bedroom studio for the last three years, you might want to drop Tiga a line...
Via Develop
