
Grand Theft Auto maker has paid no UK corporation tax in 10 years - NeedMoreTea
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/29/grand-theft-auto-maker-uk-corporation-tax-rockstar-north-games
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GhostVII
_To qualify for the tax relief scheme, games under development must pass a
cultural test administered by the British Film Institute that establishes a
significant contribution to British culture. To qualify, games must score at
least 16 out of a possible 31 points attributed for British settings,
characters and development, and promoting cultural diversity. GTA V, a
satirical game set in a fictionalised California, qualified in 2015_

Seems like that is the root of the problem. How does a game set in California
contribute to British culture?

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lsllc
Perhaps not in a good way:

[https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2018/04/06/600217452...](https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-
way/2018/04/06/600217452/violent-killings-are-on-the-rise-in-london)

 _" I am more worried about this spike because the profile of the people
getting caught up in it is younger," he said. "The callousness of shooting
into a crowd outside a cinema, shooting at young women, the normalization —
never mind the ramping up by social media — all of that makes me alarmed and
worried. I am pretty confident that we're not going to get over this problem
unless there is a proper political consensus. This is not going to self-
correct."_

EDIT: formatting!

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GhostVII
Violent video games have been around for a long time. If you are suggesting
that they are causing an increase in violence, I would be very skeptical
unless you provided an actual study that showed this, rather than one person's
opinion. If anything they are an outlet for violent energy, in my opinion,
rather than a catalyst for it.

~~~
lsllc
Please read: [https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/08/04/the-
el-p...](https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/08/04/the-el-paso-
shooting-and-the-gamification-of-terror/)

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danschuller
The British government created some tax credits and a company legally took
advantage of them. It's a none story and just the Guardian baiting.

An actual interesting article would be on the tax credits themselves and if
they were a good idea. It seemed to me, as someone who worked in the games
industry, they were a good idea but came 5-10 years too late as by the time
they were available the majority the UK's triple A game industry had collapsed
and large amounts talent was brain drained off mostly to Canada but also
Europe and America.

Maybe 30% of the people I started with no longer work in UK and haven't for
years. And I was the same I've only recently come back (terrible timing on my
part considering what's happening in the UK at the macro level but that's a
different story!). In fact one of my coworkers who _did_ stay works at
Rockstar North on the GTA titles.

Canada had a tax credit scheme for games companies that the UK was unable to
react effectively to. Again an actual interesting article might ask if UK
games companies collapsed due to inability to react to the market or because
they moved, or couldn't compete internationally for talent due to other
countries having better tax environments.

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merb
I'm not sure if it is REALLY legal to have no income via shell companies. it's
maybe a gray area, but the whole story has way more in it than just "legally
applied to a tax credit, but morally not a good idea.".

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tathougies
Well I mean the government sets up government hand outs and then complains
that people use them

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rudiv
I like the headline from Rock, Paper, Shotgun better; it's "Rockstar North
operate within capitalism, says report". But they have free reign to be a lot
more cynical than the Guardian.

