November 6, 2017

Ukie says that the European Commission has confirmed that the tax relief, which was scheduled to expire in April 2018, for the production of video games in the UK has been successfully re-notified until at least 2023.

Ukie explains that notification is required according to the EU State Aid laws to ensure that any measures introduced to support businesses are not anti-competitive.

Ukie says: “This is fantastic news providing some much-needed confidence to the UK games sector and maintaining a key competitive advantage for UK based studios.”

Ukie says that the Video Games Tax Relief has provided a real boost to the UK games sector and the UK’s economy since it was originally launched in 2014. Latest figures show that in Q1-Q3 2017, 161 video games received final certification with an UK/EEA spend of £137 million and a total budget of £160 million.

The re-notification process ensures that tax reliefs operating in the European Union are delivering their objectives and are still compliant with EU State Aid rules. Ukie says that it has been “working closely with UK government on renotification and shall continue to ensure the UK tax relief scheme remains and is reviewed to ensure its competitiveness compared to other systems, beyond the UK leaving the European Union.”

Ukie is also working closely with the BFI research team on the economic impact assessment of the tax reliefs across the screen sectors in the UK to understand their benefit to the economy as a whole, in terms of jobs, economic spill-overs and more. This is report is made every two years and Ukie says it expects to see it published soon.

To view the Commission case file, click here. A public version of the decision is expected shortly. To read Ukie’s press release in full, click here.