Two articles have been published today in regards to the UK games industry and everyone’s favourite topic, Brexit. In the first, Jas Purewal, lawyer and co-founder of Games4EU, suggest that with the current deal on the table the UK will lose the EU laws on data adequacy and immediately replace them with a copy.
“If the EU moves ahead with further regulation of interactive entertainment, the current Brexit direction of travel means the regulation would go ahead without British involvement but still be binding on the UK both formally, as a result of any likely exit deal, and practically, given the size of the EU market and the publishers’ strong preference for common EU products wherever possible,” he explained.
We will also lose access to EU start-up grants, which can be in the millions of euros, these have been used by new studios to kick start their business.
“The guys that made ‘Overcooked,’ two of them sitting in their lounge, working full time. Is it going to make their lives a bit harder? They have a UK publisher, so they’re alright,” Nick Button-Brown, chairman of Outright Games, told Variety. “But the next ones may find it harder. The people who are doing the next “Overcooked”, they may struggle because of this.”
The exit from the EU has lead to many publishers setting up new offices in EU countries so they can be VAT and tax compliant. “Spain, Netherlands, or Estonia? With a no deal Brexit looking increasingly realistic, this is the discussion at the last board meeting of how we to need to prepare for the future,” said Button-Brown. “No, we aren’t moving the whole company there, but we will set up an EU presence to ensure our partners can continue paying us without having to withhold part of that money due to the lack of a tax treaty and so that we have an EU VAT number allowing us to deal with that correctly.”
“Many of these EU27 countries are making it easy for UK games companies to do this and an office in Ireland, Germany, Spain, Portugal or the Netherlands may be our destiny,” adds Andy Payne, founder of AppyNation and JustFlight.
Tara Louise Reddy, CEO of Loveshark adds “The topic of Brexit has been mentioned by several overseas investors who are now more reluctant to invest here in the UK.” Staffing studios could also be a problem, out of the 20,000 or so people employed in the game industry in the UK, a third of them are from the EU.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), Britain’s oldest independent economic research institute, and suggested total trade, including electronic goods and games, between the EU and UK will drop by 46%. “That’s a hefty disruption for both businesses and players,” says reporter Anthony McGlynn.
For balance I have looked for articles from the UK video games industry that are for Brexit, but there are none as far as I can see, but as 80% of the UK games industry voted to remain that’s not that surprising.
Old School
Brexit will end the world, cause super gonorrhea, erupt a formant volcano in England, etc.
Old School
Dormant*
Brexit caused that typo.
JR.
I’m sure we’ll miss their invaluable contributions to the gaming industry… said no one. Well, except perhaps the co-founder of Games4EU… who most definitely isn’t biased on the subject.
The videogame industry in the UK will continue to do just fine but these small fry contenders are afraid – which is why they’re spewing this scaremongering nonsense. Trying to save their own butts and don’t give a damn about the big picture.
No deal. Au revoir!
Old School
10/10
Would read again.
Tuffcub
Did you not miss the bit where 80% voted to stay? Pretty large margin and not just the “small fry”, this is all the big developers and publishers as well.
JR.
Tbh I’d expect that percentage to be much higher than 80%. Especially given the blatant scaremongering we’ve seen time and time again, in doomsday articles such as this.
The British gaming industry will be destroyed if you vote leave! You’ll lose your job! You’ll have to eat your own children due to a shortage of food! The world will come to a violent and bloody end!
If anything, I think it’s quite remarkable that 20% of the British gaming industry still voted ‘leave’ in spite of this tremendous onslaught of hysteria and overwhelming propaganda from the ‘remain’ camp.
‘Leave’ or ‘remain’, the British gaming industry isn’t going anywhere soon. It certainly won’t be anywhere near the cataclysmic disaster many of these anti-Brexit articles seem to imply.
I’ve read many articles online suggesting the British gaming industry is set for record growth in 2019 (despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit – shock horror). In fact, in a survey of over 60 companies (conducted by the video games trade association), only a small percentage listed Brexit as a potential ‘obstacle to success’, far behind other priorities. It’s an excellent article if you can find it.
The truth is, big industries don’t like change. If it’s ‘less hassle’ for companies to remain in the EU, of course they will vote and campaign to ‘remain’. But these cherry-picked and particularly vocal anti-Brexit ‘experts’ quoted in the article above are either incapable of adapting or simply unwilling to adapt to change. That isn’t anyone’s fault but their own.
dave87fez
Uh oh. Someone said Brexit. Hide the heavy stuff.
gazzagb
Not to mention, if the pound devalues even further, I wouldn’t be surprised to see console games costing £70 upon release. God knows how much the next consoles will cost!
double-o-dave
I’d rather pay double for a game than be ruled by a bunch of anti-British unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.
Andrewww
Maybe some of those Brits who caused this mess could, again, sail westwards and join those like-minded people in the US who are into wall-building?
All those in the UK who still kept a clear mind, and who cannot belive what an utterly chaotic ‘performance’ all this is, have my deep sympathy. Please don’t give up, you’re needed more than ever in these dark times.
Old School
Or maybe those who are against democracy and keep trying to frustrate Brexit can go to North Korea.
JR.
Dark times? Dark times? xD A cramped boxcar filled with elderly Jews on route to Auschwitz is ‘dark times’. Not getting your own way in democratic vote on whether we leave or remain part of the EUSSR is tough luck. Dark times… I have actual tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. You’ve been had by the Mainstream media if you think we’re living in dark times!
I hope and pray President Trump secures a second term in office, I really do. Because if the crazy liberals get their hands on any real power again, we’re in big trouble. And then you’ll see just how dark times can be.
Anyway, as fun as these politically charged articles are (not very), this is TSA not the House of Lords. Can we just get back to talking about how much we all dislike Microsoft…
Console wars… man, those were the days. A simpler time… in the pre Brexit/Trump era, when it seems everyone suddenly turned into a politician overnight.