TAX credits for the computer games industry are a significant step forward for the industry, the owner of a successful York games business has said.

Charles Cecil, managing director of Revolution Software, which created the Broken Sword games, said he was surprised and impressed by the coalition’s decision to offer tax credits to the computer games industry as well as high end television production and animation.

He said the investment was a good one, with the industry employing lots of graduates and paying well.

He said tax credits were very important for the computer games industry, demonstrated by the way Canada rose within the industry. “At Revolution we used to employ 40 people. I know of probably seven or eight of those who have gone to Canada. The games industry was actually quite weak there, but it became very strong when the Canadian federal government in the different states started competing with each other and offering different tax credits. Up to 50 per cent of the cost of wages were returned to the company at the end of the tax year.

“We in Britain have this extraordinary history of creating very talented computer games developers. But using this tool Canada has really overtaken us and come from well behind. Any country that wants to grow this very important industry is using this particular weapon.”

He said that in an international market, UK developers wanted a level playing field.

Maria Arinbjarnar, who set up computer games company WeEnrich based on her PhD research into making games more interactive, said: “I think the tax relief is certainly a step in the right direction and shows that the Government is serious about its pledges to invest in high tech industries. This is very good as that is a constructive way of investing in future economic growth for the UK.

“It is certainly encouraging and I hope to be able to use it as incentive to prospective investors in WeEnrich. I look forward to know the details of the tax relief.”