TIGA: We WILL get video games tax relief

CEO tells us it's just a matter of time

UK game developers were given a swift slap by the coalition government last week, when Chancellor George Osborne axed plans for video games tax relief. However, the games industry is confident it can still get the proposals through.

Today we caught up with Richard Wilson (pictured handing in the last video games tax relief petition into Downing Street), CEO of the UK video games industry trade association TIGA. Wilson reckons the coalition government will eventually be persuaded to reintroduce the proposals. "Ultimately I'm convinced that we will win this argument," he told THINQ, "it will just take longer than we originally hoped."

Although can't predict how long it will take, Wilson says he "hopes it's going to be sooner rather than later," and says he's "going to strain every sinew to make sure it happens."

The reasons for the cancellation of video games tax relief were recently questioned when games industry site Develop revealed that international games publishers had allegedly lobbied the government against the proposals.

Wilson says he hadn't heard of any companies attempting to sabotage the the proposals himself, but he points out that, "if there were then they weren't that effective because the lobbying was supposedly against the last Labour administration. Of course TIGA managed to convince that government that games tax relief made a lot of sense, so we won out in the end."

However, he notes that it's important for the campaign to have "as much consensus as possible" in the games industry, and as a result he's particularly chuffed to have just got Activision Blizzard on board.

The mammoth games publisher, whose output includes Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft, has just become a member of TIGA and spoken up in support of games tax relief plans. George Rose, executive vice president and chief public policy officer of Activision Blizzard, described the tax relief plans as a potential "game changer."

Rose warned that if "games tax relief is not introduced, the UK will remain at a real disadvantage in comparison to other territories as a location for inward investment. Without games tax relief the UK games industry will not fulfil its potential."