Ian Livingstone Named Development Legend At 2011 Develop Industry Excellence Awards

Thursday, June 23rd - Ian Livingstone will be inducted into the games development hall of fame this July at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

Posted by Staff
At a ceremony on July 20th at the Brighton Hilton Metropole, Livingstone will receive the Development Legend Award, making him one of an elite few who have been handed the honour.

Livingstone joins a list of esteemed former recipients of an accolade that includes Peter Molyneux (Lionhead), David Braben (Frontier Developments), Charles Cecil (creator of Broken Sword), the Gower brothers (creators of Runescape) and Phil Harrison (former SCE studios president).

The award acknowledges a raft of work done to support games developers and the video games industry across a career lasting over 35 years so far. It will be presented as part of the Develop Industry Excellence Awards, an event hosted by global games development publication Develop (www.develop-online.net) and its publisher Intent Media.

Now Square Enix Life President, Livingstone is one of the most respected figures in the industry: he co-founded Games Workshop, nurtured major franchises including Tomb Raider, has invested in numerous successful new independent studios, and is a key advisor to the Government on games-relevant issues such as finance and education. (See full bio, below.)

"This award honours Ian's many achievements in gaming across an illustrious career,” said Michael French, editor-in-chief of Develop.

"From establishing the UK's gaming roots, to publishing some its most iconic games creations, supporting new developers, and beating the drum for a better education system or championing our innovative industry on the global stage, Ian has done it all. The UK games industry is indebted to him. And a special guest on the night will make the award presentation very memorable."

Livingstone himself added: "I'm very fortunate to have been part of the UK games industry for over 35 years. To receive this coveted Award is a genuine honour. Recognition by the development community is particularly satisfying and I am very grateful. Thank you all in the Develop team."

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards take place on July 20th at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Brighton, UK. The Development Legend award is sponsored by Babel Media. Other event sponsors are Crytek, Amiqus, gamecity:hamburg, OPM, Nova Scotia Business International, Imagination Studios, Supermassive Games, Fmod and MPG Universal.

To book a place at the awards, contact Kathryn.Humphrey@intentmedia.co.uk or call +44 (0)1992 535 646.

About Ian Livingstone
Livingstone co-founded iconic games company Games Workshop in 1975, launching Dungeons & Dragons in Europe, and subsequently its retail chain and White Dwarf magazine. In 1982 Livingstone, together with Games Workshop co-founder Steve Jackson, created the best-selling role-playing games book series, Fighting Fantasy, which has sold over 16m copies to date.

He made the leap to computer games two years later, designing Eureka, the first title released by publisher Domark in 1984. He returned to the company in the early '90s as a major investor overseeing a merger that created Eidos Interactive, where he was Chairman for seven years. At Eidos he helped secure and bring to market some of its most famous properties including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Hitman. Livingstone became Life President of Eidos for Square Enix, which bought the publisher in 2009, and has creative input in all the Eidos-label games.

He is an active supporter of new and upcoming games talent having invested in Indie studios including Playdemic, Appatyze and Mediatonic. He is also sits on many boards including trade body UKIE, industry charity GamesAid, Skillset games council, BAFTA games committee, the Creative Industries Council and is an advisor to the British Council. Earlier this year, he co-authored the NextGen report for the government urging changes in education policy to assist the UK games development industry.

About Develop & the Develop Industry Excellence Awards
Develop is the must-read resource for anyone in the business of making games. It's a powerful force online, with a highly-targeted website at www.develop-online.net offering breaking news and daily, incisive industry content to its 130,000 monthly readers. Develop’s print magazine is a influential industry bible read by an audience of thousands of games development professionals working across 43 countries. Follow Develop on Twitter (www.twitter.com/developonline) and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/developonline)

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are now in their ninth year, and reward the creative and commercial endeavours of games developers across Europe. Key accolades acknowledging successes in fields like Visual Arts, new IP creation, business development and technical innovation are handed out at an event attended by over 500 games industry execs. www.developawards.com, @developawards on Twitter
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