There has been a fair amount of press in the last week or so about Louisiana's attempt to lure video game development via tax credits. Broadly speaking, tax credits to capitalize and drive development of industries in new areas is an old idea: biotech, automobile manufacturing, and a raft of other places and spaces. In fact, Louisiana has already tried it with the film industry - with enough success, apparently, for it to proceed with this experiment.
This offers us the opportunity to parse the video game industry...
Is the game industry better or worse to respond to these types of incentives over other industries? True, their talent base is arguably more mobile and compact than many - hence, perhaps, better able to exploit marginal cost advantages whereever they are found. But on the other hand, perhaps the cues to which this industry responds are significantly different.
Might it also be true that lower cost barriers -- tax-relief subsidized or otherwise -- could translate into more experimentation and better quality games in the long run?
