France To Introduce Game Development Tax Credit

The French Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, has announced that France will introduce a tax credit system to help native video game developers next year, as part of a program to help sustain French-owned game developers and publishers. According to an AFX News report, the Prime Minister commented that the system would take effect "as soon as possible", and is intended as "an intelligent tool" to help create jobs for the French video game industry. In recent months, the most significant French-headquartered game publishers, Infogrames and Ubisoft, have both been under threat in some way, Infogrames from continuing poor financial results and longer-term debt concerns, and Ubisoft under some threat of takeover from companies including Electronic Arts, leading to the French government's actions. Though further specific details are not yet available, de Villepin announced that the French Ministry of Culture would present the specifics of the plan to the European Commission before December 15.