Tiga UK tax break campaign

Tiga said today that it stood ready to meet with the Rt. Hon. Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, to provide him with any further information that his Department needs in order to make the case for introducing a tax break for games production. Tiga made the offer following the Secretary of State's announcement in Parliament that the Government was considering ...introducing further tax breaks in addition to the existing Research and Development tax credits.

Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, said:

I am very pleased that the Rt. Hon. Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, is apparently so well disposed towards the video games industry that he is considering ...introducing further tax breaks to support the UK games development sector. Tiga hopes that the HM Treasury feels equally well disposed towards backing our industry.

Tiga stands ready to meet with the Secretary of State and his senior officials to provide him with any further information that his Department needs to make the case for enacting further tax breaks for the video games industry within Government.

One of our principal achievements over the last year has been to forge effective links with MPs from the main political parties and to put the key issues that matter to the video games industry on to the political agenda. It is excellent that backbench MPs are questioning Ministers about the video games industry. It is encouraging that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport sounds willing to back the UK video games industry. We hope that the Government will make a clear policy announcement soon on the issue of tax breaks to boost our successful video games industry still further.

Notes to editors:

1. Tiga is the national trade association that represents games developers in the UK and in Europe. We have 150 members, the majority of whom are either independent games developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities amongst our membership.

2. Tiga's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games business. We focus on three sets of activities: political representation, generating media coverage and developing services that enhance the competitiveness of our members. This means that Tiga members are effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.

3. For the Secretary of States comments concerning the introduction of further tax breaks for the video games industry, see: http://www.developmag.com/news/32130/UK-Govt-considering-further-game-tax-breaks

For further information, please contact: Dr Richard Wilson, Tiga CEO on: 0845 0941095; Mob: 07875 939643; or: Email: richard.wilson@tiga.org, or Eva Whitlow, Tiga PR Manager on: Mob: 07814 039 983; Email: eva@tiga.org.