Game on for Sheffield’s digital media sector thanks to tax breaks
TAX breaks for the computer games industry could result in a big boost for Sheffield’s creative media sector, according to innovation experts.
Chancellor Alistair Darling revealed in his latest budget that the Govenment plans to help the computer games sector through tax breaks and other initatives.
The British film industry has already benefitted from similar schemes.
Gene DePrez, director of innovation at the city’s development company Creativesheffield, said that the proposed new tax breaks would be a massive boost for the sector.
“Sheffield has a strong heritage in computer games development and it is a fast growing sector in the city and in the UK,” he said.
“Creativesheffield will be working hard with the sector to ensure that they can access the funding and tax relief that they are entitled to.”
He continued: “Other countries have had tax relief for games for years and have been accused of stealing UK talent; now UK games developers have the incentive they need to stay in the UK.”
The sector is one of the fastest growing in the entertainment industry and Sheffield is at the leading edge in development particularly with mobile and online games.
Online development will be boosted further with the Digital Region project, which aims to provide South Yorkshire homes and businesses with access to ‘superfast’ 25mb internet and guaranteed faster upload speeds.
The project will put the region two to three years ahead of the rest of the UK.
Sheffield computer games developers are creating games for platforms such as Sony Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and mobile phones including the iPhone.
There are also industry leading courses for developers at Sheffield Hallam University including a Masters degree devised in conjunction with Sony.
Major games companies in Sheffield include SUMO – one of the top 100 games companies in the world -Tuna, Distinctive Developments and DESQ.
The UK games industry contributes £4.2bn a year to the UK economy, and employs 27,000 people.
Game Republic, an industry-led games network for Yorkshire, estimates that around 5% of global games are made in the region equating to around £210m GDP.
