In the last five years, France has lost 50 percent of its game development jobs,
according to website Tax-News. These troubling stats have caused the country to vote to reform its video game tax credit.
French developers have fled to the U.S. and Canada -- and the French government wants to stem that tide.
As a first step, the country has extended the period for which expenses incurred during the development of a game are eligible for the tax credit, from 36 to 72 months, to allow for the extended development period of today's games.
Moreover, currently under debate is a bill that includes language abolishing the requirement that game development projects exceed 10 million Euros ($13.7 million) to be eligible for that extension.
According to Tax-News, the National Assembly has also backed amendments to the bill that would allow PEGI 18+ games -- which are currently excluded -- to apply for tax breaks, as well as lowering the minimum budget for eligible games to 100,000 Euros ($137,340) from 150,000 Euros ($206,010).
