France To Subsidize Games As Art

The New York Times is reporting on efforts by the French culture ministry to treat videogames as art. About time. This initiative will include giving tax breaks for game development, and national recognition of game developer achievements (like the arts award received by Shigeru Miyamoto this March). From the article: "With a total of roughly 100 video game companies, France, along with Britain, has long produced more video games than the rest of Europe combined, according to the market research firm Idate, of Montpellier, France. Of late, however, the French companies have been facing tough times. Infogrames has been struggling against high debt, and an American rival, Electronic Arts, bought 19 percent of Ubisoft's shares in 2004. And Vivendi Games earns most of its revenue from one best-selling game, World of Warcraft, said Laurent Michaud, head of the video games division at Idate. 'It is true that the French video game sector is fragile,' Mr. Michaud said. 'But this is true for companies in all markets due to the quick-changing nature of industry.'"

Comments

Canada

[HappySqurriel]

Currently Canada is offering a competition for independant developers as well:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM .20061108.wtelefilmm1107/BNStory/Technology/home

The article does not mention a subsidy.

[krell]

I could find no reference to any subsidy (word "subsidize" in news item title) in the article. However, I did find a tax break. A tax break should never be confused with a subsidy ("Monetary assistance granted by a government....") since no money is given by the government ($0 of government money spent). A tax break merely lets someone keep more of what they already own.

Re:The article does not mention a subsidy.

[paladinwannabe2]

From Wikipedia

In economics, a subsidy is generally a monetary grant given by a government to lower the price faced by producers or consumers of a good, generally because it is considered to be in the public interest. The term subsidy may also refer to assistance granted by others, such as individuals or non-government institutions, although this is more commonly described as charity. A subsidy normally exemplifies the opposite of a tax, but can also be given using a reduction of the tax burden. These kinds of subsidies are generally called tax expenditures or tax breaks.

In some cultures, figuring out what a word means occurs before "correcting" someone's mistake. Slashdot has never been one of thsoe cultures.