Video game designers offered incentives to move to Canada
May 18 2009 by Ranjan Chakraborty
Made in UK: Grand Theft Auto
Britain’s best video games designers are on the move to Canada because of the lure of attractive tax breaks and a better lifestyle, according to a key industry group.
Richard Wilson is the chief executive of Tiga, a group that represents independent games developers. He says that Canada is keen to create a lucrative gaming industry and therefore offers considerable state support for immigrants who work in gaming, even going as far as to subsidise salaries to attract top talent.
For the last three decades, Britain has enjoyed its position of being one of the world’s leading players in the video games industry. Only the United States and Japan currently rival Britain’s track record in video game production, with hit games such as Tomb Raider and Grand Theft Auto being produced in the UK. Canada is keen to rival this level of production, and is fast tracking Canadian visa procedures for games workers.
Matthew Boulton, 31, a British software developer who moved to Canada five years ago told The Guardian: "Games are a lot more high profile here; it's recognised as an important industry. Maybe that's true in the UK as well, but you never get that sense. You never hear politicians mention it – but here, it's one of the things that people know is strong and that you need to support."
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