The UK's official video game developer representative body, Tiga, looks to have driven a nail into the coffin lid of
Haze developer, Free Radical, with a posting on its website.
The post reads, "Tiga has expressed its condolences to all the people at Free Radical Design, the Nottingham based independent studio, which reportedly closed its doors yesterday."
It continues, "Free Radical Design’s demise highlights the difficult economic environment in which UK games developers do business."
The post then uses the apparent 'death' of the developer to talk about tax breaks, "A tax break for games production and a larger supply of skilled workers may not have saved Free Radical Design. Nonetheless, this policy approach would strengthen the UK video games sector. The Secretary of State for BERR must take action."
The policy in question would be for the government to "...establish a more favourable tax environment and tackle the underlying skills shortages facing the industry".
We are all for a decent economic climate to encourage UK industry growth. However, it seems a little harsh to use the fact that a UK developer is
using legal administration to stay alive and contributing in order to ask for tax breaks.
We've asked Tiga's CEO Dr Richard Wilson for comment.
You can read the full post
here.