UK games tax breaks could be confirmed this week

Tax relief for UK games developers have been ‘all but confirmed’, and could even be announced during Wedenesday’s Budget speech.

That’s according to an MCV source close to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, who said that preliminary meetings have already been held with senior games industry executives.

If the announcement is not ready in time for the Budget, we can expect news over the following weeks. This development comes on the back of culture secretary Ed Vaizey telling the games industry last month that an announcement was ‘imminent’.

Games tax breaks were first announced by the government in the March 2012 Budget, and was intended to officially be enacted from April 1st 2013. The incentives were subsequently held up by the European Commission, which questioned whether the scheme was necessary in the absence of what it termed "an obvious market failure".

However, a number of UK games studios have struggled and closed since the delay of the tax relief, including the developer Blitz. And the European Commission is believed to have approved the tax credit.