Sony close Guerrilla Cambridge

[Shifty Geezer]

"In countries such as Canada and the USA or France and Great Britain, extensive funding programs have long been common.

That's bollocks. UK only had tax concessions introduced in 2014, with UK developers complaining about the advantages in other countries, especially Canada, and campaigning for a long time to get similar tax concessions, which they didn't get. Concessions are only with qualification, per project, and requires cultural criteria to be met as the breaks, as DSoup says, are only for 'British' creations. http://www.bfi.org.uk/film-industry/british-certification-tax-relief/cultural-test-video-games
Although enough points are possible by creating the work in the UK though you don't need to make a Tea Drinking Simulator to qualify. But I don't know how many devs succeed in getting these breaks.

The cultural test is a points-based test where the project needs 16 of a possible 31 points to pass. It comprises four sections:

• Cultural content (up to 16 points).
• Cultural contribution (up to 4 points).
• Cultural hubs (up to 3 points).
• Cultural practitioners (up to 8 points).

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org...st-for-video-games-guidance-notes-2016-03.pdf - Read Annex A
Plenty of titles won't get any tax breaks.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

That's bollocks.

Why didn't I just post that.

 

[Jupiter]

"As reported on GamesIndustry.biz, a total of 237 games have been certified for Video Games Tax Relief in the first calendar year since the initiative was introduced in the UK."

"[...]

The key benefit of the tax relief is that qualifying companies can claim up to 20% of their “core expenditure” back, provided that expenditure has been made in the European Economic Area (EEA).

“We wouldn’t be able to assign as much budget and staff to our games without the Video Games Tax Relief”
– James Burpitt, Big Pixel Studios – speaking at the Games Finance Summit, April 2016"

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Mart...applied_for_the_UK_Video_Games_Tax_Relief.php



"During the course of 2015, the first full year in which the legislation has been in place since coming into action in April 2014, the BFI approved a total of 237 games for the video games tax relief. Of this number, 116 had been fully confirmed and certified for tax breaks. The remaining 121 are currently still in interim stages of their applications.

The report showed that a total figure of just under £181 million was spent on developing the certified games. Of the interim certification games, which indicate future game development, £548 million was spent. This inconsistency between the figures was due to the fact that the BFI found that most games certified for tax relief had a budget of under £1 million, whereas the uncertified games had larger budgets."

https://wholesgame.com/news/uk-tax-relief-given-237-games-2015/



"arranging meetings with important public officials at HMRC and the British Film Institute (BFI) regarding whether a multi-million pound performance capture shoot would qualify for UK video games tax relief"

"UKTI have helped us greatly. In particular, they have allowed us to maximise the benefit of tax credits, which has further brought down our costs and encouraged us to invest more in the UK than we had originally planned."

"UKTI is interested to make sure that our business in the UK can progress as uninhibited as possible. It wasn’t our original intention for the UK to become our biggest hub, but given the price structure and the government support, that is what’s happened."

https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/cloud-imperium-games-invests-15-million-in-its-uk-studio

 

[Deleted member 11852]

And are any of those games actually commercially viable videogames that would appeal to gamers or are they mostly bespoke works intended for, say for example, education or health?

Because this thread is about Sony's studios who produce mainstream games.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

the BFI approved a total of 237 games

That's good data as it shows the range of games that manage to secure relief (using 2016 reference):
Table Tennis Touch
Leonardo's Cat
Pumped BMX+
N.O.D.E
Beano Interactive Play Website
Gratuitous Space Battles 2
F1 Racestars (IOS and Android)
Overlord - the Fellowship of Evil
Battle Decks
Lumo's Cat
The Hungry Horde
Apple Bob
Gumball - Rainbow Ruckus
Little Raiders: Robin's Revenge
Worms World Party
Knave of Mazes
Clash of Fans
Worms 4
Downton Abbey (Mobile)
Cat Tap Fever
Formula One 2015 (F1 2015)
Chimpact 2
Chimpact Squash
Star Wars: Rise Against The Empire Playset
Worms 3
Beyond Eyes
Moshi Monsters Village
Room on the Broom: Flying
Gruffalo: Games
Bake Escape
Angry Birds Transformers
Disney Infinity 3.0
Disney Infinity: Toy Box Sports - Bowling
Warhammer 40,000: Deathwatch
Spinguins
Surgeon Simulator
I Am Bread
Rick and Morty Presents: Jerry's Game
Assassins Creed Chronicles
Tree Fu Tom: Magical Moves
Catchphrase Quest
Blink Escape
Spy Ops
Electric Lullaby
Total War: Attila
The Swindle
Until Dawn
Cartel Kings
Dirgelwch y Marcwis: Trysor Cudd
Night Zookeeper
Nova-111
Titan Attacks
Alien: Isolation
Tom Gates - Interactive Play Website
Zodiac: Orcanon Odyssey
OlliOlli
Pacca Alpaca - Playtime Travel
Total War Battles: Kingdom
Family Fortunes
Only Connect
Baum
Swapperoo
Tearaway Unfolded
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Cricket Quiz
QuizTix: Musicals
Monstrum
Tango Fiesta
Boomerang Make and Race
Goat Simulator
Goat Simulator: Mmore Goatz Edition
Prison Architect
Nom Nom Galaxy
Frozen Synapse Prime
Pokemon Art Academy
Elite Dangerous
Crater Craft
Re:Shakespeare
Mutton For Punishment
Art Academy - Atelier
Star Wars: Lightsaber Escape
Risk
Powerstar Golf
Football Kicks Frenzy
Dunky Dough Ball
Los 40 Principales Party Vol. 2
Spy_Watch
Animals Actually
Total War: Warhammer
Danger Mine
The Voice: I Want You
La Voz Vol. 3
Avakin Life
Rare Replay
Total War: Rome II DLC
Zombies, Run!
Wheels on the Bus
Angry Birds Pop!
Bubble Genius
Crafty Candy
Disney Infinity 3.0 - Twilight of the Republic Playset
Miniball Tap Football
Step Buy Step: A Pedometer Adventure
7 Minute Superhero Workout
Ancient Battles
Car and Truck Games for Kids
Peninsular War Battles
Russian Front
Dungeon Runner: Fitness Quest
Civil War (Hunted Cow Studios)
Not a Hero
OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood
Atom Universe
Eldevin
Fallen Sword
Hell
OlliOlli (Rollingmedia)
Soccer Manager 2017
Operation: New Earth
Rebels & Redcoats
Tank Battle (Hunted Cow Studios)
Celtic Heroes
Loot Hound
Project Cars
Football Manager 2015
Nuts! - The Battle of the Bulge
Run The Joint
Overruled!
Petlandia
Awesome Awesome Aliens
Scary and Melon
Fruit Shake
Cubious
Twit or Miss
Tales of Iona
Football Manager 2015
Football Manager Online (Korea)
Football Manager 2016
Football Manager Classic 2015
Henri's Fair
Shaun the Sheep - Shear Speed
Escargot Escape Artistes
Learning Time with Timmy
Space Hoppers
Bacteria Combat
The Climb
Universal Credit - A Year of Change
High Steaks!
Seraph
Makies FabLab and Fashion
Teletubbies: Tinky Winky's Magic Bag
Teletubbies: Laa-Laa's Dancing Game
Teletubbies: Dipsy's Fancy Hat Maker
Teletubbies: Po's Daily Adventures
The Living Dungeon
Bloons Monkey City
Ouroboros
A Winter's Night
Solve-It-Blocks
Energy Island
Shadow of the Beast
3-2-1-Zombies!
Jolt
Word Party
The Room Three
Omega Agent
Caledon
Seagull Swipe
Driveclub
Forza Horizon 2 - Xbox One
Fire & Fury - English Civil War
Transformers: Earth Wars
Rival Kingdoms
100 Years' War
Graffiti Grinder

We can see only a few major titles (bolded), and a fair few educational titles. It's evident from the criteria that a lot of major A - AAA titles don't qualify. Also, the UK is still far from cheap even with tax breaks. Rent, food, transport, general cost of living (and so wages, and everything associated with wages like paying for goods) is higher than many European nations, particularly Eastern European. Compared to Germany, your personal reference, the 20% tax breaks for the games that can get them probably do make the difference. Otherwise the UK is not cheap to run a studio. NA and Canada offer far better tax breaks, while Eastern Europe and Asia offer cheaper work forces. The UK struggles, and only does as well as it does thanks to talent and culture.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

So yeah, I look forward to Tea Drinking Simulator 2017.

Will it provide mod support? Must have my home made crumpets in the game if I want an authentic experience.

Regards,
SB

 

[JPT]

Will it provide mod support? Must have my home made crumpets in the game if I want an authentic experience.

Looking forward to the Viking mod, with Mjød and unrecognizable stew.... With the secret code UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT A B ???? You get Berzerker mode where you invade the Tea Drinkers!!!

 

[milk]

Looking forward to the Viking mod, with Mjød and unrecognizable stew.... With the secret code UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT A B ???? You get Berzerker mode where you invade the Tea Drinkers!!!

*B A

 

[iroboto]

with UK developers complaining about the advantages in other countries, especially Canada

nooo don't hate us! we have no devs here! and they still pay next to nothing!

 

[Jupiter]

That's good data as it shows the range of games that manage to secure relief (using 2016 reference):

We can see only a few major titles (bolded), and a fair few educational titles. It's evident from the criteria that a lot of major A - AAA titles don't qualify. Also, the UK is still far from cheap even with tax breaks. Rent, food, transport, general cost of living (and so wages, and everything associated with wages like paying for goods) is higher than many European nations, particularly Eastern European. Compared to Germany, your personal reference, the 20% tax breaks for the games that can get them probably do make the difference. Otherwise the UK is not cheap to run a studio. NA and Canada offer far better tax breaks, while Eastern Europe and Asia offer cheaper work forces. The UK struggles, and only does as well as it does thanks to talent and culture.

Yeah I was false. It is not cheap for world wide standards. Compared to regions where similarly incomes are given, it is significantly cheaper.


Still I'm a disappointed that SONY closes many studios while other brands like Uncharted generate high profits. This is definitely not the SONY which said 4.5 years ago: "4/10 games only make profit, the rest losses, but we stick to it because we want to provide innovations".

Sony let some excellent employees down who can bring their knowledge and skills elsewhere. Someday this could bring Sony in the same situation as Microsoft. Actually it is already the case. What appears from SONY directly? In 2015 almost exclusively 2nd-party games came as exclusive games on the market. Last year Uncharted 4? That is little. 1-3 games and the rest is already done via external studios.

 

[tuna]

Still I'm a disappointed that SONY closes many studios while other brands like Uncharted generate high profits. This is definitely not the SONY which said 4.5 years ago: "4/10 games only make profit, the rest losses, but we stick to it because we want to provide for innovations".

GG Cambridge isn't that innovative.

 

[Jupiter]

A game on the new VR medium is still more innovative than most AAA games.

I apologize for spelling and grammar errors. For me it is horrible to write in English on a smartphone. Generally I write very little with smartphones since it is already exhausting in my native language. In English it is even more difficult.