Gamertell

Canada has become a haven for European game developers who are looking for a tax reprieve.  The tax incentives being offered to game developers in Canada have ensured that the country gets a bigger chunk of the burgeoning videogame business while countries like Britain and France watch the exodus of game developers. Britain has decided that its time to take the war to Canada. And, no, Britain is not going to offer greater relaxation in taxes to the videogame industry, but it will challenge the very legality of the tax incentives on offer in Canada.

The UK Ministry of Culture, Media and Sport has convinced the European Commission to launch an inquest into Canada’s trade practices…

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The Associated Press has reported that European Union regulators have given the go-ahead to a proposed tax break for game developers in France. Developers can enjoy the tax break for any game that has any cultural content. The tax break can be seen as an incentive for developers to create games rich in culture. This could also mean that we get to see some very interesting games.

Earlier the EU regulators weren’t in line with the tax break initially propounded by the French, as it was too broad and covered game genres without any room for cultural content. But they are satisfied with the revisions that the French made to the proposed tax breaks. Neelie Kroes, EU competition commissioner, told the AP that the French made significant changes to target cultural content.

The French officials have a very romantic perception of video games and view them as an artform - perhaps a view that many French developers will also share now. The tax break will allow game developers a rebate of up to 20% on production costs and also covers the sub-contracting costs.

It is an intelligent way of motivating developers to make games with a cultural leaning. It would be even better if developers enjoyed similar incentives on other games, as European developers are feeling the heat from countries like China and India.

Read [Yahoo! News] Also Read [Microsoft asks EU Court to overturn, reduce 899 million euro anti-trust fine

The European Union (EU) has come to the aid of European game developers by announcing a new fund of €1.5 million to aid games development in Europe. Any game developer can now apply for grants under this fund, if that developer has successfully developed one game product since January 1, 2005.

In addition, this fund would be available to developers for game development projects across the PC, console and handheld game platforms. New game developers can receive grants worth a handy €100,000, but for projects that are under development the grants range from ...

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