Global Games Development Incentives

UK

Country	Type	Benefits	Criteria	Notes / Limitations
UK	Tax break	Video Game Tax Relief. 20% of qualifying spend (if wholly developed in EEA). Can claim an additional deduction in computing their taxable profits, and where that additional deduction results in a loss, to surrender losses for a payable tax credit.	Cultural test. 25% of core expenditure is incurred on goods or services provided from within European Economic Area / Lead VGDC must be in UK.	Subcontracted costs are subject to a cap of £1million per game. Cannot claim R&D relief in conjunction.

Please read the dedicated Ukiepedia page for more detail on the UK's Video Game Tax Relief.

Europe

Country	Type	Benefits	Criteria	Notes / Limitations
Belgium	Tax break	Expansion of Film & TV Belgian Tax Shelter. Tax Shelter would provide additional funding of up to 25-30% of total qualifying expenses in the EEA. Allows finance of up to 40-45% of Belgian-eligible expenses..		Awaiting approval from European Commission. Spend must specifically be within Belgium.
France	Tax break	Tax Credit for Video Games. Tax relief for 30% of all eligible expenses incurred. Limit of receivable tax credit increased to 6million.	Cultural test. Production costs exceeding €100 000.	A game deemed excessively violent (meeting a criteria) will not benefit.
Germany	Cultural fund	German Games Fund. 50 million EUR available for both prototypes and fully developed games.	Culture test. At least 60% of development costs spent in Germany. Prototype development costs must be at least 30,000 EUR. Grant amounts to 50% of development costs at a max of 400,000.
Italy	Tax credit	Planned since late 2016, a new law would provide for the introduction of four different types of tax credits, between 15 and 30%, for production companies, distribution companies, national executive and post-production companies, and companies and trusts that invest in the sector.		Delayed
Poland	Cultural fund	Pilot program. 18million EUR investment fund for games studios.	Have a budget of 500,000 Polish zloty to 20 million zloty. A project timeline of up to three years. Must consists of industrial research and experimental development or experimental development only. Expenses with sub-contractors may only make up 60 percent of eligible costs of the overall project. All work must be done in Poland.
Spain				Delayed

USA

Rather than a national-level federal tax offset for video game development, tax offsets in the USA have been introduced at state-level in an attempt to draw more US businesses away from major game development hubs such as California.

Country	Type	Benefits	Criteria	Notes / Limitations
Puerto Rico	Tax credit	Qualifying media projects, including video games, are eligible for a 40% tax credit on all payments to Puerto Rico resident companies and individuals, and a 20% tax credit on payments on all non-resident spending.	Projects must spend a minimum of $100,000.
Tennessee	Cash rebate	Spend a minimum of $200,000 on qualified Tennessee spend, either per episode or per project, you are eligible for a cash rebate in the form of a 25% grant. The film and TV incentive program was enhanced in May 2018 to include computer-generated imagery and interactive digital media, as well as stand-alone, post-production musical scoring and editing.	Spend a minimum of $200,000 on qualified Tennessee spend.
Texas	Cash rebate	Video Game and XR Incentive. Qualifying video game projects are eligible to receive a cash grant up to 22.5% of Texas spending of eligible Texas spending.	Minimum in-state expenditure of $100,000. 60% of production days completed in Texas. 70% of employees and contractors working in Texas must be Texas residents.
Utah	Tax credit	Utah Motion Picture Incentive Program (expanded to include interactive entertainment). Up to 20% tax credit on payroll and in-state spending; this only applies to new state revenue generated by "digital media" companies.	Spend a minimum of $500,000 in Utah.
Virginia	Tax credit	Virginia Motion Picture Tax Credit Fund. Tax credits equal to 15-20% of the production company's qualifying expenses.	Spend a minimum of $250,000.	Must include a reference to Virginia in credits.
Washington	Tax credit	Interactive media productions with qualifying costs of at least $500,000 are eligible for tax credits equal to 30% of the company's qualifying expenses. Note: in 2017, this tax incentive was extended for 10 years.

Canada

In Canada, screen tax incentives are primarily implemented at the provincial rather than the federal level.

Country	Type	Benefits	Criteria	Notes / Limitations
British Columbia	Tax credit	Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. 17.5% of eligible salary and wages incurred in the tax year.	Taxable Canadian corporation with permanent establishment in British Columbia.	Application fee of $1000 to $5000 depending on number of employees.
Manitoba	Tax credit	Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. 40% of Manitoba labour costs with a max tax credit of CA$500,000. CA$100,000 in eligible marketing and distribution.	For 40%: company must pay 25% of its company salaries to Manitoba residents. For 35%: if a company pays less than 25% of its salaries to Manitoba resident & incurs at least $1m in qualifying Manitoba labour expenses annually.
Newfoundland & Labrador	Tax credit	Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. 40% of labour directly attributable to interactive digital media products, a max of $2m/year (or $0k per employee per year).
Nova Scotia	Tax credit	Digital Media Tax Credit. Whatever is the lesser of 50% of labour (plus 10% of expenditure for productions outside metro Halifax zone); OR 25% of expenditure (plus 5% of expenditure outside metro Halifax zone). Up to $100,000 of marketing and distribution spend	Permanent establishment in Nova Scotia.
Ontario	Tax credit	Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. 40% of labour, no cap. Up to $100,000 for marketing and distribution OR for Larger gama+C12e companies: 35% of labour, no cap, no need to meet 80/25 criteria.	80/25 rule - 25% of 25% of the total development labour to create the product must be attributable to eligible wages of employees of the qualifying corporation. Also 80% of the total development labour to create the product must be attributable to eligible wages and eligible remuneration paid to individuals, personal corporations, or sole proprietorships that do not have employees.
Quebec	Tax credit	Quebec Production of Multimedia Titles Tax Credit. 30% of labour, plus 7.5% if French language.		Application fees: Initial Qualification Certificate is $118. Annual application then based on production expenses up to $3,556 per title.