The Government is to spend £4 million looking for the next Tomb Raider in a significant boost to Britain’s highly profitable video game industry.

Grants of up to £25,000 will support new video games projects, create jobs and nurture up-and-coming talent in the industry which generates some £4.5 million a day for the UK economy and employs 19,000 people.

Awards of up to £25,000 will be handed out to help new and young games development businesses create working prototype games.

Grants of up to £50,000 will be awarded to a limited number of projects to take their ideas beyond the prototype phase.

Grants will be provided to eligible companies with project plans where the team and title combination has potential and will benefit from the grant. Applications will be held in various stages online and will take four to six weeks to assess.

A video games company can also qualify for the UK video games tax credit

More information can be found on the official site http://www.ukgamesfund.com/

On 20 August 2015, the EU approved the increase in film tax credit for ‘large’ budget films i.e. with core expenditure of more than £20 million effective from 1 April 2015. The rate of film tax credit is now 25% for all film budgets meaning that a film with UK core expenditure of £20 million will receive an additional £1 million in tax credit under the new rules.

With studio space already limited in the UK, this increase will ensure that the UK remains a top destination for internationally mobile films. George Osbourne stated “A key part of our long-term economic plan is supporting our creative industries that contribute billions to the economy and provide millions of jobs.”

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