Daylight robbery
Rockstar North, the Edinburgh-based developer of Grand Theft Auto, has paid no corporation tax over the past decade, despite making billions in revenue for its parent company Take-Two Interactive.
The outfit has even managed to claim $52 million in tax relief according to a report from the investigative thinktank TaxWatch UK which estimates Rockstar Games’ operating profit at $5 billion. between 2013 and 2019, during which time the company released Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Rockstar North is part of Rockstar Games. GTA V has sold more than 100m copies, making it one of the most profitable entertainment products of all time. It racked up $1.2 billion in its first three days on sale in 2013.
According to Take-Two earnings reports, GTA V’s online component, GTA Online, has generated hundreds of millions in revenue. But the company paid no corporation tax between 2009 and 2018. It received $52 million in tax credits from the government’s video games tax relief scheme, which was set up in 2014 to bolster the UK’s $6.1 billion games industry, much of which is made up of small and medium-sized developers.
The sum is equivalent to 19 percent of the total relief paid to the entire UK games industry since 2014, TaxWatch reports.
