The British game industry has received a much awaited tax break after seven years of discussion. It will bring much awaited money into the UK games industry and see growth in the sector. During the debate on whether the UK could be granted a tax break halted by the government and the EU. Has seen the closure of once successful studios and has seen talent move abroad to country’s such has Canada which has granted tax breaks to the industry for many years. With the tax breaks in Canada it has seen large companies like Ubisoft and indie developers such Phil Fish flourish. Tax breaks in the UK films industry has boosted that sector by increasing the amount of movies and television shows made in Britain. Without the tax break it would see culturally British games decrease. This is also not the first time that the tax breaks have been attempted before. In 2010 the labour government approved the breaks but this was then overturned later in the year by the collation. The UK’s tax break will not be as generous as Canada but will look more like the tax break available in France. The tax breaks in France have allowed companies like Ubisoft to do well. It has also seen companies like Sony put money into studios like Quantic Dream. The new tax break will work on a point system to judge if a company can receive it. The companies will receive points for things like if the game is cultural relevant for example if the game promotes the UK. Points will also be earned by being based in the UK and hiring staff from the UK. Around 25% of games companies already qualify for the tax break. More companies are likely to change in order to fit into the bracket that will see them receive the tax breaks. Jason Kingsley the owner of UK developer Rebellion thinks that the tax break will add around one hundred and eighty million pounds into the UK games industry. With this money it is a hope that the UK can become one of the top three game making nations in the world. As a games design student I am hopeful that the tax cuts will help me get a job after I finish my course. It will allow studios to hire more staff thus creating more places for students to get places in the industry. It will also help students who want to set up companies after leaving university as they will have a bigger income due to paying less tax on the games they create. I think it may be a year or so until we start seeing the effects of this tax break but it can only have a positive impact on the UK’s games industry. We now have to aim to get in line with Canada before we can claim to be one of the best counties in the world to create video games.
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Irrational games was founded seventeen years ago by Jon Chey, Rob Fermier and Ken Levine with a mission to create visually unique worlds. With irrational having seemingly almost limitless cash flow duration the creation of the Bioshock franchise they have decided to wind down the studio. In a statement from Ken Levine he mentions that seventeen years is a long time in any job. Levine believes to achieve this he must refocus his energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure. He will be keeping only fifteen members which is a huge cut from a large studio. Levine hopes to create more narrative games with the new team that aimed at the core gamer and have replay ability. Levine did not like the way that Elizebeth performs the same way for everyone who plays the game. With the new studio the games will offer variation of narrative content. The games produced will now only be delivered digitally which hints that it may be aimed more at the mobile market. One other reason for this shut down could be the trouble that Bioshock infinite went through during development. This was no secret in the games industry with multiple delays and features that were later scrapped. During this development stage the studio had around two hundred people working on the game. Levine has said that the people affected by the layoff will not be forgotten and will offer support such as use of the studio during the transition period. Irrational have also set up a career day which around 50 publishers and 112 studios have signed up for. Levine was one of the Major forces in Irrational with him undoubtedly being one of the best writers in the games industry. Levine has success with game such as Thief and System shock, (the spiritual predecessor to Bioshock) all these game had a talking point. With Levine’s new adventure he is no longer stuck with the Bioshock universe and is free to explore new and creative ways to deliver games to the core gamer. There have been many successes with alumni from big studios going on to make successful indie games. One such story was Steve Gaynor a former irrational employee who went on to make the hit game Gone Home. There is also Lucas Pope who left Naught Dog to create papers please the surprise hit of 2013.
This does not mean that the Bioshock franchise is over as 2K Games still owns the right to the series. We could see in the future one of 2K many other studios take over a popular vote would be one of the Rockstar studios. With many studios shutting down and big games having astronomical budgets that could be difficult to make back is it worth focusing on small games with small teams. Over the next few years we could carry on seeing this shift from big AAA studios and see them focusing on cheaper more creative games. Recently Facebook bought the Kickstarter Oculus Rift for two billion dollars in cash and shares. The Reaction from the gaming community has not been positive with the belief that Facebook can only do harm rather than bring the device to the masses. Oculus Rift is a virtual reality head-mounted display being developed by Oculus VR. It was born from the mind of Palmer Lucky who developed an idea for an inexpensive and more effective display. John Carmack who earned fame as a video game programmer decided to work on Palmers developments and developed the software for the device. Oculus VR originally received 2.5 million dollars via a Kickstarter campaign this was ten times the amount originally asked for. Since this campaign the Oculus Rift has gone from strength to strength with various development units and huge interest from gamers. Now with the new Facebook buyout this can surely only push the device further than it could ever have done without them. Seemingly with an unlimited cash flow and some of the best minds in the development can only be improved and brought to us quicker. Is it gamers do not see the bigger picture or is it that they believe the evil corporation Facebook will only destroy it. One of the first major names to dismiss the buyout was Marcus Persson who originally was working with Oculus VR on bringing Minecraft to the device. He cancelled the deal soon after the announcement citing that Facebook “creeps him out”. This does nothing to help the PR of the Oculus Rift after the buyout due to Persson’s influence in the gaming community.
Another back lash was from the original Kickstarter donators who believe that they have been betrayed by the sale. The donators funded Oculus Rift to make it the headset it is today and feel that they are no longer getting what they originally supported. They also feel a sense of ownership and not getting information blindsided them when they leaned from news reports of the sale. What has been learned from this is that Kickstarter is a donation platforms and the money you put into an idea does not mean you have any part of it. Overall with some of the bad PR received after the purchase would have been expected from Facebook and unavoidable. A big question is what does Facebook want with Oculus Rift? In a statement from mark Zukerberg he says that the company will carry on working with developers and immersive gaming. They hope to develop more relationships to support more games in the future. After gaming Facebook plans to make Oculus Rift available for many other experiences. Some examples used were to imagine studying in a class room or having court side seats at a basketball game. Overall there has been some negative PR after the sale of Oculus to Facebook but this was always going to be unavoidable. Time will only tell what Facebook can bring to the company but with the recourse available it can only be positive for the Oculus Rift. |
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