Business & Tech

Farmington Hills Video Game Producer Gets State Tax Credit

Scientifically Proven Entertainment will use the $400,000 credit to create 'Ghost Game'.

The Michigan Film Office announced today that Ghost Game has been approved for a digital media incentive from the state. The video game’s storyline is set in Detroit, and will be developed and produced by Farmington Hills-based Scientifically Proven Entertainment.

The company remains in litigation with the Film Office over denial of a credit for Man vs. Wild, as the state has appealed an Oakland County Circuit Court ruling that the company should receive the credit. Company owner Nathaniel McClure told Farmington-Farmington Hills Patch in July that the state's film incentives drew him and his young family from California to Michigan in 2009.

Ghost Game will be produced for Xbox360 and Playstation 3. The company will increase its work force to 25 in order to produce the game.

“Growing our state’s video game industry presents an incredible opportunity to create the high-skilled, good-paying jobs that attract and retain young talent in our state,” said Carrie Jones, director of the Michigan Film Office. “Ghost Game is not only hiring Michigan programmers and engineers; it also makes Detroit an integral part of the narrative, putting our state in front of millions of gamers across the country.”

Ghost Game was awarded an incentive of $411,650; the company expects to spend $1,029,125 on the project. 

The game’s storyline builds off the popular “Ghost Hunting” genre and is set at the fictional apartment building, the The Garrick Arms, in Detroit. In the game, the building, originally open in 1939 as a hotel for visitors to the North American International Auto Show, has seen a number of tragic events within its walls over the years.

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Players must investigate paranormal activity in the building and try to solve the disappearance of Margaret Reynolds – a tenant who vanished under mysterious circumstances in 1954.

In addition to the two state incentive projects, Scientifically Proven Entertainment has also produced Rock of the Dead and Real Heroes: Firefighter.

In 2011, 15 projects have been approved with $23,160,025 in incentives awarded on $55,673,677 of approved production expenditures for the year. These projects are expected to create 1,703 Michigan hires with a full time equivalent of 370 jobs.

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