Business Secretary promises "more than just tax breaks"

Vince Cable, the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, has been talking about the actions the government has taken in order to encourage the development of the British game industry.

Talking at a CreateUK event this week, Cable spoke about the economic benefits of games development in Britain, but claimed ”an awful lot more is involved than just tax breaks”.

CreateUK’s a sort of celebration of the country’s creative industries, involving various digital and real-world events. At the initiative’s recent launch ceremony website Develop Online managed to corner Cable, and asked him what his thoughts were on the economic impact of the games industry.

“Games is a really important part of the creative industries,” he told them. ”It contributes to all parts of the UK – some of the main areas of productions are areas like Gateshead and Dundee, it’s not entirely London-driven by any means.”

“We recognised a few years ago that there was a danger of the games industry and animation drifting away to countries like Canada, and we knew we had to do something about it. So the tax has been put onto a level playing field and as a result of that, the games industry is now flourishing here. It also provides very high value employment, which is something integral to our recovery.”

It’s not surprising that Cable wants to keep developers happy. According to CreateUK the British game industry generated a whopping £1bn last year. That’s not a bad investment for an economy that’s still suffering the impact of recession. The current UK government followed in the footsteps of Australia and Canada in 2012 by announcing tax incentives for developers to stay in the country, but the Business Secretary understands that more than just tax breaks are needed to help the industry flourish.

“Our objective was to make sure we weren’t being unfairly undercut by the Canadians, and I think we’ve achieved that objective, but an awful lot more is involved than just tax breaks,” Cable said. ”Britain is generally a good place to be. The kind of thing we’re know focusing on is helping the industry with training, access to finance and trying to make sure the industry does settle and develop here.”

Funnily enough both Australia and Canada have both seen cuts to tax breaks recently, leaving the UK as one of the more financially viable locations for making games. Almost makes up for being terrible at cooking and football.