The Spanish Government will allocate 20 million euros to the Reciprocal Audiovisual Guarantee Society for Sureties SGR.
The Council of Ministers has given the green light to a package of measures with which it is intended to help culture, severely affected by the coronavirus epidemic. The technology and video games sector will receive more than 70 million euros, of which 20 million will go to the video game industry specifically. However, the Spanish Association of Video Game Production and Development Companies (DEV) has been critical because the industry will not benefit from tax measures aimed at culture.
This was published in a press release, in which they expressed their "disappointment", since "the Government has not taken into account the Spanish production of video games in the fiscal measures approved to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis " In accordance with the Royal Decree-Law, the video game will not be able to access the deduction for investments from which "film productions, audiovisual series and live performances of performing and musical arts" will be able to benefit.
DEV assures that it is a “necessary measure” to boost the arrival of investors, both national and international, in the securities being developed in Spain. According to the association, neighboring countries such as France, Italy or the United Kingdom have been promoting development for years through the aforementioned tax incentives.
Today the Government has approved a package of measures to support the video game sector, a sector of increasing quantitative and qualitative importance in our country: https://t.co/K4lrRVjyJN
– Alberto Garzón🔻 (@agarzon) May 5, 2020
They lament but celebrate other grants
“DEV regrets the lack of sensitivity towards the sector and claims the importance of supporting the Spanish videogame development industry since it can represent an important engine of economic development and investment attraction for Spain in the recovery phase after the measures of containment due to the COVID-19 crisis ”. They underline that thanks to these incentives products could be created for international markets.
The association, however, does value positively "the direct award of two subsidies", which reach a total of 20 million euros, and will go to the Reciprocal Audiovisual Guarantees Guarantee Society (SGR). This aid will allow "expanding its technical forecast fund and subsidizing the cost of the commission for opening guarantees for loans to the cultural sector", so that access lines can be opened for "financing agents in the most favorable conditions" .
