North Swindon MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Video Games, Justin Tomlinson, has welcomed the announcement that final approval has been granted for the Government's plan to support the UK video games industry.
The videos games industry contributed an estimated £947m towards GDP in 2012 and currently provides over 26,000 jobs across the country. In March 2012, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government was extending its support for creative media in Britain by extending the tax relief already afforded to the film industry to cover video game producers across the country. The move was welcomed by all sections of the industry and referred to the European Commission for approval. After two years, the Commission has finally approved the measure which it is estimated could benefit the economy by £188 million over the next five years and create new jobs in games studios all over the UK.
Swindon and its surrounding area is fortunate enough to already be home to a number of fantastic games studios including Neon Play and Fayja (based at the Wyvern Theatre) and over next five years this tax relief has the potential create roles for designers, software engineers, coders and programmers as well as admin roles for people across the town.
Justin Tomlinson MP said: "As Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Video Games Industry Group, I have worked with key industry bodies TIGA & UKIE to successfully lobby the Government. The Chancellor moved to introduce the UK Games Tax Relief and the Education Secretary is reforming Computer Science and Maths in schools to make sure the UK is best equipped to take advantage of this growing market. I am delighted that this tax relief has now been fully-approved and look forward to seeing the already thriving UK video games industry grow further in the years to come; promoting growth, creating jobs and showing the best of British!"
