It simply wouldn’t look good for the industry to get tax relief in the UK when the government is already passing on ”austerity measures” to consumers.
”I think that this industry, and the companies within the industry, need to be pragmatic on the issues that the government faces today,” said EA VP and GM for Northern Europe, Keith Ramsdale. The UK government has already said it would be better to offer advantages to all industries and not play favourites with a select few.
”We’re not going to suddenly be handed a great big tax relief bill when the government’s facing the economic issues it is - I think that cuts to the chase on this,” he said. ”The conversations we’ve had with government are pretty clear on this. That doesn’t mean to say that we’re not arguing the need for tax credits.”
”But consumers are being faced with austerity measures, and I don’t think it looks great on a company to be bleating loudly that we want our P&L to look better by having tax credits given to us by the very government that’s having to pass these austerity measures onto consumers.” As of January 4th, VAT in the UK increased to 20 percent.
”While R&D tax credits remain a criterion that in the longer term we’d very much like to see played out, we’re also talking to them about other financial options that could run. Some of them are schemes that are currently available, and actually the conversation is how we can make access to them easier.”
”So it’s about a little sense check - EA does have a different, much less aggressive view than our big competitor there, who doesn’t speak on behalf of all of us,” said Ramsdale, having a little dig at Activision’s Bobby Kotick.
The UK film industry enjoys tax breaks. ”Are jobs in the games industry less valuable than those in the film industry? Maybe that’s a question - and why would policy continue to have that view, given the contribution that the games industry makes?”
”If you look at what’s happening with the film industry, and you look at the growth of HD gaming, and users on new devices such as the iPad, iPhone and online - if you look at the touch points for videogames compared to film, it’s vastly…”
”It’s interesting actually, because people are looking at the growth of the videogames industry and declines based on year-on-year revenues in the market - but what they’re not looking at is the overall picture to include all forms of gaming. Mobile, digital, new devices - it’s still very much an industry that’s on the rise,” noted the EA Europe boss.
Are times of austerity the right or wrong time to give industries a break? Recently banks in the UK are confirmed to be spending billions on bonus pay despite the trouble they’ve caused and the government pressuring them to forgo them to help the economy.
