Students have seen blinding lights, movie stars and the famous General Lee crowding Baton Rouge streets, and soon they may see, or possibly become, EA Games and Halo 2 software creators as well.
University students have gotten a taste of Hollywood, thanks to a state tax credit program, and a similar one soon may be in effect for video game development.
When a film company comes here to shoot, they get tax credits. A tax credit is a direct, dollar-for-dollar tax reduction for expenses such as child care, housing development, or in this case, film development.
Film companies make a contract with a tax broker, who sells tax credits to Louisiana taxpayers. The video game tax credit program would work this way, said Mark Smith, director of Entertainment Industry at the Department of Economic Development.
The tax credit program will reduce taxation and increase hiring and spending by creating new jobs and bringing in new income, Smith said.
The tax credit is only in the research stages now, but legislature will decide on it in this year’s fiscal session.
If the state passes the law to allow the new tax credit, it will mean a giant leap in technology and diversity for Louisiana, said Will French, president of Louisiana Production Capital, which buys tax credits from film studios and sells them to taxpayers.
The transferable tax credit is a powerful new economic tool, French said.
“With film, we’ve seen Louisiana surpass most states in a very short period of time, since 2002,” French said. “Our system is so good and works so well … Louisiana will be a force to be reckoned with in the U.S., and possibly around the world.”
Smith said Louisiana has the potential for playing prominently in the video game development field because the state has one of the most progressive tax incentive programs in the country.
The video game industry should provide permanent jobs with good benefits and pay, Smith said.
French said it may only take a few weeks to finish a movie, but video games can take years to develop, so it should bring a more stable economic benefit to Louisiana.
Alex Schott, University graduate and director of the Louisiana Film and Television Commission, said Louisiana’s successes in the film industry with its tax credit program are unprecedented, and the video game development program should be successful as well.
“It’s a great idea because the video game industry is bigger than the music and film industries combined,” Schott said.
The video game industry brought in $3 billion last year, Schott said.
Stephen Beck, director of the LSU Laboratory for Creative Technologies, said having tax credit toward video game development provides the incentive for students to stay in Louisiana and for businesses to come to the state.
Students from across the country want to study video game development, but they mainly end up working on the east and west coasts and in Texas, said Jason Chu, chief operating officer of DigiPen Institute of Technology in Washington.
“Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of game development opportunities here in Baton Rouge, or even in Louisiana,” said Christopher Meyer, University graduate in computer science and president of the Student Video Game Alliance of LSU. “Typically, students will either stay in the area and work at non-game development jobs, or go to places like Austin or California, where the opportunities are greater.”
The SVGA is a student organization that aims to bring game development to Louisiana, Baton Rouge and the University through businesses, classes and projects, Meyer said.
“If it turns out that one of these kids is really good, 99.9 percent of the time they are going to have to leave town,” said Isaac Traxler, adviser to the SVGA.
Louisiana is ahead of the game, and the possible video game opportunities and productions here may keep Louisiana’s talented young minds from going to neighbors like Houston and Atlanta, Schott said.
If the tax credit succeeds, it could mean great things for the University, Beck said.
“I think there are some windows of opportunity for LSU to make something like this happen,” Beck said. “And we’re kind of at that point when the window is open.”