Game industry group TIGA is using comments from a THQ executive to further press for tax relief for the videogame industry in the UK.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, THQ Executive VP Danny Bilson called the talent in the UK “extraordinary,” and while he would love to see his company build a new studio in the region, it won’t happen anytime soon because “it's all about money at the end of the day.”
THQ opted instead to build a new 400-employee studio in Montreal, where it will receive tax breaks of 37.5 cents for every dollar spent on labor costs, which Bilson called a "huge win" and would enable the developer to "put more on the screen."
Bilson added:
I wish that Los Angeles or California would give us 37.5 per cent on the labour; then we'd be building out here. If it was in Manchester we'd be building out there. If it was in Lyon, we'd be building out there. We're a global company with a global audience, so some of that stuff has to take a back seat, unfortunately.
TIGA CEO Dr. Richard Wilson said that without tax incentives, the “UK is not competing on a level playing field.”
Wilson stated, “If the Coalition Government wants the UK to be open for business, to attract overseas investment, and to create highly skilled jobs then it must introduce Games Tax Relief.”
