The UK Governments Decision Not To Support The UK Games Industry By David

I know at the time of posting that this is an old topic, but with the current climate this country and indeed the rest of the world is facing, this will be a continually relevant subject.
What i’m getting at is the coalitions decision not support the previous governments promises to introduce tax breaks for the gaming industry within the UK.
On the face of it, at least for those outside the industry, this may not seem like such a big issue, however with the technological age well and truly upon us, it is becoming more and more necessary for Britain to establish itself at the forefront of these growing markets, and the games industry is ripe for being taken advantage of.
The gaming industry can no longer be looked upon as a niche market. With the imminent launch of Microsofts Kinnect, targeting a family audience that has up to now seen the Nintendo Wii sell over 70 million console units worldwide, a major factor in helping the japanese company post profits of 279.09 billion yen in 2009, and the more traditional gaming title Modern warfare 2 selling over 20 million copies In the first few months after release, making the game worth over 500 million dollars. It seems counter productive and totally against the encouragement of business that the coalition claims to support, to back away from these plans. This fact is only compounded in the realization that the UK already have established developers within the industry in the form of Lionhead studios, who produce the vastly popular Fable games and Rockstar games, who produce the phenomenally popular Grand Theft Auto games.
Unfortunately for the UK however Canada have introduced these tax breaks, and as a result of this there has been a large exodus towards this country, with Rockstar games developing their most recent open world game Red Dead Redemption in Canada.
The games industry, and the UK have never been better positioned to take advantage of each other. With the global industry today being worth over 55 billion dollars, and one of its major players, Japan, seriously stagnating when it comes to developing games, the upcoming release of the Nintendo 3DS early next year, and the UK public in need of jobs with an abundance of graduates leaving university with degrees in computer related subjects, it seems only two obvious that this should be taken advantage of. Yet it is not?
The United states woke up to the industry years ago, with Microsoft now an established brand within the industry, and Apple, who have been traditionally opposed to making itself a presence within the games market, now being unable to ignore its potential for the iPhone, iPad and iPod.
The UK coalition should move forward and seize this opportunity by introducing tax breaks, then utilizing the British industry figureheads like Peter Molyneux in promoting the industry within the country and the rest of the world.
This would obviously have a direct affect on the industry with many game developing countries moving to the UK to develop games, generating revenue for the country through taxation, even with the tax breaks in place. In turn this would encourage British talent, allowing them to express themselves and spread their influence throughout the world, and provide a ripple effect throughout the country helping other media who would need to cover the success and publications of the games market, naturally allowing all other connected industries to benefit without providing financial relief. Even now the industry is a massive cash cow, provided there is talent there able to exploit it, but over time it is only set to get bigger, with more and more people becoming active participants in the past time, and technological advances only increasing its appeal. The industry is already worth more than the movie business and it is showing no signs of slowing down. In the way that certain films are considered art and ingrained into our culture, so will video games in the future. The UK Government should grab this opportunity whilst it presents itself instead of ignoring a viable business opportunity that will move forward and leave those not involved behind.