UK game dev tax breaks on "hiatus"
Issue off the table for three or four years.
UK game development suffered another blow today after the government said much sought after tax breaks could be years away.
According to GameSpot, culture minister Ed Vaizey said during yesterday's Culture Department select committee meeting he could put tax breaks on a "three or four year hiatus" - suggesting the issue is a no go until the next general election.
The move comes after the Conservative Party promised "unequivocally" to introduce game tax breaks "in our first budget" - that was when it was in opposition. How things change.
The government's position on tax breaks has angered the UK games industry; in July Ninja Theory (Enslaved) told Eurogamer it "sucks".
"With those tax breaks, with that support, we could have been... We could have grown UK talent and aimed for number one - to be the top producer of videogames in the world," co-founder Tameem Antoniades said. "We would have attracted the investment needed to achieve that.
"Without it, there's a danger we just don't grow."