These ‘subtle ultimatums’ arrive in the wake of the newly formed government scrapping the planned UK tax incentives for the videogames sector.
”For us to continue to invest in the UK there needs to be an incentive provided for us to do so,” Acti boss Bobby Kotick told the Financial Times, reports CVG.
”The talent pool in the UK is among the best in the world for what we do. But we really need to see some more incentives. We are seeing great incentives in Canada, Singapore and eastern bloc countries.” Acti employs 700 British devs in various studios.
Top Sony executives are echoing the same dissent now that tax relief for the videogame industry appears to have been deep sixed by the collaborative government in power. The Sony house will be much more cautious moving forward with investment plans.
They have 1,200 on their UK payroll in 3 large studios. ”The existing plans will continue but any further new developments would have to be looked at. Maybe something that was planned for the UK would go abroad now,” said Sony UK’s Ray Maguire.
Cancelling the tax incentive will save the UK treasury £190m according to the Conservatives. Activision Blizzard was the latest ‘big boy’ to join trade association TIGA to campaign for tax relief for UK videogame studios and developers.
