One line (Monday — July 11)

Mobile games and applications will be taxed in Belarus, the former CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures will create a film studio for the adaptation of games, and Tencent launches Clash Royale in China.

1. Belarus will begin to levy a tax on the sale of mobile games, applications and online games. It is planned that the initiative will come into force in 2017. The innovation will affect non-residents of the country. This was stated at a press conference in Minsk on July 8 by First Deputy Minister for Taxes and Duties Igor Klepcha. “Next year, the Tax Code will propose rules for the taxation of electronic services provided by non-residents to citizens of our country. These are services such as the implementation of mobile applications, music, e-books, movies, games. This type of business is actively developing, and we have set ourselves the task of getting taxes from such activities to the budget, which in principle corresponds to the emerging world practice,” the deputy minister said. At the moment, the mechanisms of the most effective collection of VAT are being worked out, according to the head of the main Department of the methodology of taxation of organizations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Skrinnikov.

2. The former CEO of Ubisoft Motion Pictures Jean-Julien Baronnet (Jean-Julien Baronnet) creates a film studio Marla Studios. The company’s specialization will be the adaptation of games. “Creating movie adaptations of video games is a special task that requires not only knowledge in the field of the film industry, but also a deep understanding of the values of gamers, as well as the process of game development,” Baronne shared in an interview with Variety. The studio will begin production of the first film next year.

3. After buying 84.3% of Supercell shares, Tencent launched Clash Royale in China. The title is distributed through the Chinese corporation’s own messengers – WeChat and QQ. According to Tech in Asia, the total MAU of these two applications is 1.26 billion people. Recall that Tencent acquired a controlling stake in the Finnish company at the end of June for $ 8.6 billion.