03 Feb 2015 Author: Régis Renevey
£47 million in UK spend generated by Games Tax Relief in its first six months
The BFI have today released figures on games qualifying for Games Tax Relief in the UK. These are the first numbers to be made public since the relief became available on 1st April last year.
In the first six months of the tax relief, 32 games received final or interim certification, meaning that they qualify under the cultural test and can claim tax relief from HMRC. These games have a total spend in the UK of £47 million between them.
Nine games have already received a final certification and been released, with a UK spend of £2.3million between them, or £256k per game on average.
For the 23 games that currently have interim certification and are in production, the expected UK spend is £45million, or close to £2million per game on average. An additional detail is provided for the games in interim certification: their total budget is expected to be £54million, so 82% of their budget is being spent in the UK.
A ministerial answer in Parliament last December revealed that the pace of applications has recently increased, something which is not fully reflected in these figures. Early indications are therefore that momentum is now gathering, and hopefully next year's statistics should be even more positive. However, as set out in the Ukie manifesto, more still needs to be done to promote the UK around the world as a great place to make games and make sure that we fully grasp the potential of games tax relief.
Ukie CEO Dr Jo Twist commented: “It's great to see such a strong start for the games tax relief scheme in such a short period of time, showing £47million in UK spend. With a recent increase of applications towards the end of 2014, we expect to see continued growth and uptake of the scheme throughout the year.”
“But this is just a start. With a total global market that will soon be worth over $100 billion, it is clear there is a lot more development happening that this tax relief could be helping to bring to the UK. As called for in the Ukie Manifesto, we need more support from government to help us promote the UK overseas to make sure we fully activate the tax relief. We need to spread awareness in other territories of the great offer the UK now has for games development, as well as making sure that all our domestic studios are prepared to make the most of the relief. We encourage anyone making games in the UK to see if they qualify so that we can continue to make a strong creative and economic contribution to the UK's economy”