French Game Dev Tax Breaks Renewed

After some contention, France has decided to renew its tax relief program for game development studios. Qualifying studios receive a whopping 20% tax rebate - "qualifying" simple means that the studio must be contributing to French culture by making its games. In other words, the government is looking for Journey, not Madden 2K12 Championship Ultra Manhood Edition. The program has been re-instituted through the end of 2017, giving both French developers and other nations a chance to adapt to the move.

The contention here came from worries among the European Union that such tax breaks would give French developers an unfair advantage in the European market. Clearly the response here should be for those countries to do the same. Offering tax incentives to video game development goes a long way to defining video gaming as a legitimate art form. We hope that other countries, the US included, will continue to make moves to legitimize video gaming as an art form.