TIGA annual report highlights tax break success

TIGA has published its annual report detailing work carried out over 2009 with a foreword from MP Tom Watson praising the trade association's campaign for Games Tax Relief.

The report highlighted the progress made on tax breaks, which led to the Government's decision in the March 2010 Budget to allocate £90 million in tax relief for the sector over the financial years 2011 - 2013.

"Put simply, if TIGA had not compiled the evidence that the UK industry was at a competitive disadvantage, this would never have happened. It's an extraordinary success for the trade body that should be recognised by all in the industry," noted Watson.

The report also highlighted a further 27 innovations in products, processes and markets - in particular in achieving national media coverage for the industry, securing grants from UKT&I that enabled 18 games businesses to attend overseas trade shows, and becoming the awarding body for the Train2Game open learning courses in game development and design.

"TIGA has proven that it can deliver real benefit to the games developer community, as a trade association it punches well above its weight in this respect," said Ian Hetherington, chairman and chief strategic officer at Realtime Worlds.

"The extraordinary effort that the TIGA board expend to create a positive view of our industry with media and government alike has finally paid off with a tangible improvement in awareness of the cultural and economic significance of our industry to the British economy. The industry is now well placed to share in this achievement by supporting TIGA."

"TIGA has made considerable progress over the last year. We secured a £90 million tax break for our sector. We generated substantial media coverage for the industry. We delivered new and improved services for our members," added TIGA CEO Richard Wilson.

"I would like to thank the TIGA team for their hard work in securing these achievements and to TIGA's members for their support."

Also confirmed today was the addition of Image Metrics as a member of the trade association.

The company is a leading provider of facial animation and services and said that it plans to foster new relationships with UK-based independent games developers, publisher-owned developers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities through the move.

"TIGA is recognised as an essential resource for the UK video games industry, and Image Metrics is excited to join in support of the UK games development community at the grassroots level," said Brian Waddle, the firm's executive VP.

"As a company with deep ties to its Manchester roots, it's only natural for Image Metrics to be an active member of the TIGA community."