France to offer tax credits on video games
PARIS (Reuters) - France is to offer tax credits to encourage local
companies to develop video games, the Ministry of Culture said on
Thursday.
Parliament has approved a measure that will offer tax
credits to producers of video games "with a cultural dimension" to
finance 20 percent of a company's production costs to a maximum of 3
million euros ($3.91 million) a year, the ministry said in a statement.
It said the move, intended to keep video game production in France, had
been decided in recognition of the growing cultural importance of video
games, which it said were played regularly by 15 million people in
France.
"It recognizes the cultural character of the video game,
which involves several branches of artistic talent: writers, directors,
graphic artists, musical and sound creators," it said.
The
statement noted that the European Commission had begun a formal
examination of the proposed measure which would be completed in a few
weeks.
Source:
Reuters