France gets EU approval to bolster tax breaks for game developers

Newsbrief: This time last year, France moved to stem the tide of game developers leaving the country for better opportunities in Canada and the U.S. by voting to reform its video game tax credit program. The move was supported by local game companies, including French video game industry trade body Syndicat National du Jeu Vidéo (SNJV). Now the European Commission (headquartered in Brussels, Belgium) has approved the revised terms of France's Video Game Tax Credit legislation, giving the country a green light to implement the reforms. "The green light from Brussels concerning the new terms of the Video Game Tax Credit is excellent news for the entire sector," stated SNJV president (and Quantic Dream cofounder) Guillaume de Fondaumière in a press release confirming the news. "It will allow a much larger number of studios to benefit from a reduction in their production costs and, in particular, studios which create very popular games for the Web or mobile platforms. This measure will now allow companies already based in France to maintain many jobs." Included in the revised legislation was language lowering the budget threshold that game development projects must exceed to qualify for tax breaks from A150,000 (~$186,453 USD) to A100,000 (~$124,586 USD) and opening the tax breaks up to PEGI 18+ games, which are currently excluded from applying for tax relief.