Culture Ministers in the EU have announced that they would allow Member States increased flexibility in providing financial support to Europe’s video games industry.
The Culture Council acknowledged the value of the video games industry in its recommendations ‘Building a European Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries’. The Council also called for financial aid rules to be adapted to allow for more flexible public support for the video games sector, when the European Commission reviews state aid rules in 2023.
This demonstrates a recognition of the value of the sector. This will make it easier for EU countries to support the growing video-games industry and to invest in the growth of Europe’s video game sector.
Dr Richard Wilson OBE, TIGA CEO, said:
“The EU Culture Council is right to recognise the value of the video games industry. The Culture Council is now recommending that the EU should allow member states greater flexibility in providing financial support to Europe’s video games industry in order to improve its global standing.
“The UK must match this approach to ensure that our sector remains world-leading. The Government should aim to increase the rate of Video Games Tax Relief from 25% to 32%. This would create nearly 1,500 additional skilled development jobs and over 2,700 additional indirect staff by 2025.
“The Government should also introduce TIGA’s Video Games Investment Fund (VGIF), which would provide pound-for-pound matched funding, up to a maximum of £500,000, for original game projects. The VGIF would create over 1,200 skilled development jobs and indirect jobs by 2025 and increase studios’ investment by £78 million.”
Notes to editors
The Education, Youth, Culture and Sport (EYCS) Council is a configuration of the Council of the European Union, which brings together the Ministers responsible for Education, Culture, Youth, Media, Communication and Sport of the EU member states. Its exact composition depends on the items on the agenda and the policy areas covered by the EYCS Council are the responsibility of member states. The Council mainly adopts incentive measures and recommendations but some of the initiatives agreed by the Council, such as Creative Europe programmes, can have a very direct impact on EU citizens. In some cases, where the treaties allow, the Council can also adopt legislative acts such as on audiovisual matters and the mutual recognition of diplomas. The EYCS Council is also closely involved in developing the cultural sector’s contribution to a more innovative Europe, and helping to ensure that Europe’s potential as a global centre for the production of creative digital content contributes fully to the Digital Agenda set out in Europe 2020.
TIGA
TIGA is the trade association for the UK video games industry. Our vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to develop video games. Our core purpose is to strengthen the games development and digital publishing sector. To this end, we focus on four strategic objectives:
- influencing Government policy via effective political representation;
- raising the profile of our industry to influence public policy;
- enhancing education and skills through TIGA’s accreditation programme, the TIGA Games Education Awards and TIGA’s Best Practice in Games Education Conference;
- promoting best practice through TIGA’s membership services, including the TIGA STAR Employer Award and the TIGA Games Industry Awards.
For more information contact TIGA:
Tel: 0845 468 2330
Email: info@tiga.org
Web: www.tiga.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tigamovement
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TIGAMovement
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/tiga