R* start a new charity

And that charity is themselves.

A report states that R* has claimed 37 million in tax relief (80 million since the program started) in the UK in 2018/19 that's 37% of ALL games developers claims in the UK. The tax relief is believed to have been set up to help smaller developers.

Its also claimed that R* hasn't paid any corporation tax in the last decade in the UK.

And R* response to this? is that the money helped create 1000 UK jobs, which on the surface seems plausible, but when you consider that GTA 5 alone has made over 6 billion dollars since 2014 R* can afford to put on many new people without tax relief.

So to qualify for these tax reliefs a developer must show that their game is "culturally British" So was GTA 5 or RDR2 culturally British to deserve this relief???

Dishonest company, and i'm glad i haven't bought any games from them since the overrated GTA 4.

Well they don't do many games anymore so they have to do something.

Seems like the blame is on the government.

Usual tax BS. It's not surprising, if any of this rings true. Anybody if they could would avoid paying taxes, but there's a difference between living paycheque-to-paycheque, and just paying your taxes because you're fucking rich.

Fire up & let it out.

Yes and no.

Those exemptions exist for honest people to get tax cuts/credits. People should not exploit them.

The government could tighten up those loopholes that get exploited, but the it'd probably be really difficult for honest people to make use of it.

Some blame yes for not monitoring it with someone in the know, most of the fault is R* for claiming something they're not entitled to. No way R* can claim that GTA 5 & RDR2 are "culturally British" and they should be forced to pay the 37 million back on top of the tax they haven't been paying for the last decade.

People act like Rockstar (and most companies, for that matter) have a single decision-maker at the helm who calls the shots for EVERYTHING the company does/doesn't do. It's not like everyone in the company collectively decided to take advantage of a tax loophole.....gonna have to call Bob in accounting for that one. >.>

Besides, it's on the government to enforce their own laws, or change existing ones if it's allowing companies to do this.

Yes the government needs to monitor it better, but a company that has made over 6 billion dollars on one game in the last 5yrs shouldn't be stealing from other devs who this is intended for.

By the way where has anybody said anything about 1 person making all the decisions???

Of course there is more than one decision maker which means it was discussed and decided that they would go ahead and claim it, so it was a scumbag decision made by a collective of greedy untrustworthy money grubbing arseholes.

All that money they retain and it still only results in more crunch for their devs. Damn.

Money does things to you. Lots of money does a lot to you.

Basically all the big AAA companies do this: Ubisoft, Activision, EA,...

Difference is that EA, Activision are known for shady shit and cop a lot of shit for it whereas R* are held in such high regard.

Its also the fact that none of their recent games are culturally British to qualify for this programme, and they used up 37% of all available funds.

LOL at people saying this isn't R*'s problem but the government. They are knowingly scamming the system, but it's ok - they made GTAV

As someone pointed out, sure the govt could be more alert, but that would likely punish those trying to make proper use with more red tape - and it's like blaming a sleepy cop instead of the burglar - the cop didn't commit the crime.

In a way it sort of is, not that i'm being a dumbass and claiming Rockstar aren't scummy motherfuckers, but the goverment should immediately pick up and deal with this instead of allowing it to happen.

When it comes to the lower class folk,. they are typically pretty hard-line, but here? Nope.

Yeah this is different to companies have their headquarters off shore in a different country to avoid tax (the article states they haven't payed that tax in the past decade) its about a programme that was set up to help smaller British developers to make culturally British games, and R* doesn't qualify as either, but because they have put on 1000 British jobs they think they have a claim to it.

The British government needs to hire someone more in the know, but you're right a company that has made over 6 billion in the last 6yrs shouldn't rorting a system and can easily afford to pay for those 1000 people without this money.

Why blame them? Rockstars didn't invent the tax relief, they just applied for it. If the law is crap then change the damn law, not blame people that profited from it.

Fun fact: Disney avoids paying UK taxes too when they film Star Wars over there. An necessary evil.

This isn't about R* avoiding paying tax, this is about a programme set up by the British government to help aid British developers make culturally British games, R* games they've made or have on the market qualify as culturally British.

So not only have they not payed their fare share of corporation tax in the last decade, but they've also claimed tax relief for this programme.

The argument of "yea we're dicks, but it's good for you", doesn't cancel out the "yea, we're dicks" part.

@xantufrog: isn't this thread also not SW material?

Just to SW it up for you, GTA 5 & RDR2 sold more on PS4, therefore you cows are the main supporters of R* so and condone this action. Are you happy now???

They did, hence the casino in GTA 5 and i'm sure there's something to spend your money on in the MP of RDR2.

@i_p_daily: Rockstar is only held in high regard because they keep their lips tight on everything.

Rockstar is the company that basically invented crunch in the game industry. They worked DMA to the bone with GTA 2 and a lot of high profile developers who launched the GTA franchise left DMA because of Rockstar's doing

Yes R* makes hit after hit. But if you go digging in their work attitude, you'll notice a lot of it smells.

@i_p_daily: lol go cry in one of the PC threads

@X_CAPCOM_X: Hey you're the one in here crying, go cry elsewhere you sook.

@X_CAPCOM_X: fair point - my thinking was we discuss devs a lot on here, even 3rd party ones (Which I never agreed with, but the issue won't die). If XBox had done something I'd see the point of the other thread, but that wasn't the case. Same as we shouldn't be arguing about Sony insurance company practices on here.

I also look at Daily's thread and it was legit for SW material cause we are discussing about Rockstars, a developer and that brings more discussion to SW. Some could say it's in line with Games Discussion but since Rockstars do get the hate, it's pretty much in line with SW, which is why I never move it.

@davillain-: yeah that was kind of what I was trying to say.