Ian Livingstone is a legend in the video game industry. Commonly referred to as ‘the father of Lara Croft’, Livingstone was recently appointed Life President of Eidos following its acquisition by Square Enix. Livingstone has worked actively with the British government to make gaming a more socially acceptable form of entertainment, and he has also been awarded an Order of the British Empire for his service to the industry.
A few of us journalists had the opportunity to sit down for a chat with Livingstone, who is in Mumbai to attend the Golden Cursor Animation Awards. This is a busy time for Eidos, with high-profile titles on the way, a few in development, and many more rumoured or unannounced. We’ve covered everything from Askham Asylum and Hitman, to Deus Ex and Tomb Raider, to Thief and Championship Manager, and lots more. Read on.
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How does the recent deal with Square Enix affect Eidos – how it operates and future releases?
It’s a great deal for us in many ways. Eidos will remain an independent subsidiary under Square Enix and the Eidos name will not disappear. So for us as a company, it means that our future is secure with backing from a great balance sheet and a great management team at Square Enix. At the same time, we’re independent, so they’re not just looking to take our IP back to Japan. They’re looking for our expertise in creating and developing IP. So our studios like Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, IO Interactive, Beautiful Game Studios; that’s the talent they’re looking for. But they don’t want to influence that in a particular way. They want to make us even better. So for the company of Eidos, it’s great news for the brand and for the people.
You’ve recently been appointed Life President at Eidos. So what does this new role entail for you?
Well, again, it’s sending a positive message to the employees of Eidos that I remain as figurehead, and it’s business as usual.
Arkham Asylum is probably your biggest game of the year. Eidos has been saying it’s the closest to perfection they’ve come and that it’s one of the best games Eidos has ever made. So it came as a surprise when it was announced that the game was delayed. Can you give us a reason for that?
Everyone is so excited about Arkham Asylum. We’re expecting review scores in the 90s and clearly when you have an amazing game like Arkham Asylum, you want to maximise its potential. So we think it’s worthwhile going that slightly extra distance to make it the game it has to be. We’re immensely proud of what we’ve created so far. I’m sure you’ve seen the screenshots and gameplay; it’s an extraordinary achievement. Having an incredible property like Batman, having the comic book writer involved with the story, and the development expertise of Rock Steady, who’ve done an incredible job, we’ve got to 100 per cent realise that dream that we have and not disappoint at the last minute. So we’re going that extra mile to make sure it’s going to be the game we think it’s going to be.
We’re delaying it for the right reasons and no one is going to be disappointed because we’ve put in an enormous effort into it. For example, there was one person working on nothing but the cape for two years, so there are over 700 animations and sound clips attached to the cape alone. That’s why it looks so beautifully realisitic.
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So do we have a new date for the release of Arkham Asylum?
We haven’t announced a new date. I can tell you it’s this year, but we haven’t given a date.
Many comparisons have been drawn between Uncharted and Tomb Raider and also between Nathan Drake and Lara Croft. What are your views on this comparison?
I think it’s not quite correct to compare Drake’s Fortune and Tomb Raider. Sure, they’re single player character-based action games, but Uncharted is all based on one island and it’s focused around combat, whereas Tomb Raider is not focused on combat; it’s about puzzles, exploration, and discovery, and it goes to a lot more regions than one island. I think Uncharted, for me, is more like Gears of War than Tomb Raider. It’s a great game, but I think Tomb Raider is a different league, and an equally, if not better, game than Uncharted to my mind.
Next page: Hitman, Thief, Deus Ex
One of the properties you are associated with is Championship Manager. Its rival, Football Manager 2009, has been quite big; there have been many changes and there’s been online integration. Can we expect something similar from Championship Manager, or do you have something better in mind?
Championship Manager has been very close to my heart since 1993, when we first released it, and as everybody knows, the developers of Championship Manager were the Collyer brothers at Sports Interactive. We separated a number of years ago and they were bought by Sega. They created Football Manager and well done to them; they’ve done a great job. So when we started working on Championship Manager without Sports Interactive, we started, not from scratch, but from a new position, and it’s taken a couple of years to get the game up to the quality that we want. But I think most people will agree that the Championship Manager that you’ll see this year will be at least comparable and perhaps better than Football Manager. I can’t guarantee that it’s going to be better, but personally, I firmly believe that it’s going to be a better experience because if you look at the forums, there has been some disappointment with Football Manager, and there’s also been a lot of anticipation for the new Championship Manager. So we’re back in the game, and we have a good chance of getting the win this year.
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Can you give us some details about the next Hitman game?
It’s being worked on, but there’s been no announcement on the release date yet. We haven’t even announced the game yet, so everything you hear about the next Hitman game is purely speculation at this point.
Will it be IO Interactive working on this one as well?
Yes, it’s IO Interactive. They’re making Hitman, Kane and Lynch and also Mini Ninjas; all at the same studio.
Is Kane and Lynch 2 on schedule for release this year?
There’s a target date for September, but as you understand, these games often slip because the production times are so difficult to predict due to the amount of work they have to put into them now in high-end consoles. It’s a tough business.
What about the Kane and Lynch movie?
Yes, hopefully there will be a Kane and Lynch movie. They haven’t started production yet, but it’s getting close.
Has the cast been decided yet? There has been talk of Bruce Willis.
Yes, we understand Bruce Willis will be in the film. Unfortunately, I can’t talk too much about it at the moment. We’re very excited in general that Hollywood sees value in the characters we’ve created. Hollywood initially created its own characters; then they looked to books and comic books for stories and characters, and now they’re looking at games, because they see the rise in the popularity of these video game characters. So it’s great that we’ve had Tomb Raider movies, we’ve had a Hitman movie; now there’s a Kane and Lynch movie and possibly another Tomb Raider movie. We’re also looking at the possibility of a television animated series based on Mini Ninjas.
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Tomb Raider has probably been your biggest franchise over the years. But sales for Underworld haven’t been up to the mark. Do you think the series is losing steam now?
Underworld has met our target expectations, but it’s a tough market at the moment. There aren’t as many PlayStation 3s or Xbox 360s in the world as there were PlayStation 2s or PlayStation Ones. The hardware is quite expensive and production costs are rising. So there are certain challenges, but as a franchise, I don’t think Lara Croft is going down at all. In fact, her popularity continues to increase. Not every game has been brilliant; Angel of Darkness is probably the dark point in her career. If you look at movies, James Bond has survived 40 years. Not all those films have been great, but the character remains strong. The next Tomb Raider, I think, will surprise a lot of people and reinvigorate the franchise. There are some remarkable things we’re doing in the next Tomb Raider to make you say, “Oh Lara, I love you so much!”
Eidos Montreal are currently working on Deus Ex 3, and they’ve announced that they’re working on a secret second project.
Yes, they are.
Could that be Thief IV?
You might think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.
Okay, do you plan to release another Thief game in the future?
Well, we did some research on all our franchises and the one that was most wanted was Thief. So you might want to draw your own conclusions, but I cannot confirm that.
Is it an entirely new team that makes up Eidos Montreal and the team working on Deus Ex 3 or does it include people who’ve worked on the previous games?
It’s an entirely new team. Most of them are Montreal-based and they’ve come from various other studios based there. So we’ve hired the best people in the business from Montreal and also from outside Canada to work on Deus Ex. It’s an incredible studio; the most advanced studio I’ve seen. And of course, for a franchise like Deus Ex, everyone wants to work on it because of its legacy and history. So there’s a lot to live up to as well.
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So is Deus Ex 3 coming this year?
No, not this year.
Next page: PC gaming, digital distribution
Besides all these popular, long-running franchises, is Eidos also working on new IP and will we see any of them this year?
Yes, we are certainly working on new IP, but they won’t be ready for this year. We have a reputation for great single player character-based games and now we have to bring diversity to our portfolio. You cannot ignore the rise of online multiplayer because it is a huge market; the number of people playing Call of Duty or FIFA online is extraordinary, and that market is only going to get bigger.
There is this growing trend of studios focusing more on the console versions of their games, while the PC versions are delayed or poorly ported, or both in some cases. What do you personally make of this, and what is Eidos’ position?
Unfortunately, there’s been a decline in PC gaming in the West. By that I mean a decline in action games and adventure games on PC. People who want that experience have moved to console. So the types of games that are being played on PC are MMOs, browser-based RPGs, and free-to-play Flash games. As for action games, that’s been on a bit of a decline on PC, so for us as a company, that’s not our focus. Our focus is on consoles. At the same time, PC versions of our games have to be at par with their console counterparts, otherwise we won’t release them.
Most of your franchises are targeted at serious male gamers in their teens and twenties. Do you now plan to focus a bit more on the casual side of it?
I don’t think we’ll be focusing on the casual side; but we will be focusing on the social side. Social gaming has risen largely because of Nintendo, so rather than games just being played by teenage boys in their bedrooms, they’re now being played by the entire family in the living room. Bringing in a social aspect and being able to play a game with others increases the enjoyment of a game, and you can’t ignore that. So we’re going to focus on social gaming, both online and offline.
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There’s a lot more emphasis now on downloadable games, on consoles as well as handheld devices. Is this an area Eidos is looking to explore?
Indeed. We’re already doing downloadable content for some of our games, but we’re also developing games specifically for download. It’s not just the consoles, but also the iPhone. And it’s a great way for developers to get into the industry as well because the costs of development are quite low. So these are exciting times because with the popularity of digital distribution, it also makes it easier to developers to get their games out there.
There’s also this trend of post-release downloadable content (DLC) being made exclusive to a single platform; DLC for Tomb Raider: Underworld was exclusive to the Xbox 360. From a developer or publisher’s point of view, what’s the reasoning behind such exclusivity?
To be honest, I don’t know why that was done. I think it was a commercial reason, where there was a relationship with Xbox that wasn’t there with Sony.
What advice would you give to upcoming developers?
Well, I started out with Dungeons and Dragons at Games Workshop. We didn’t own the IP; we just had a three-year distribution deal. At the end of that deal, we had to either renew it or lose it. So I realised that you can only build real value into your company if you have your own intellectual property. When you own your content, you can determine your own destiny. That’s what I’ve carried on with Eidos in creating our own IP, because that gives you power, strength, and value, not only to make money from that directly through publishing, but also leveraging that IP through merchandising and licensing. So I recommend to everyone that as soon as they can, they should do their own thing; not just create their own IP, but hang on to it. Many companies become work for hire, and it’s okay for a bit, but there’s no value in that. They can lose that job tomorrow.
How do you see the Indian market as it stands today; not for game development, but on the consumer side?
Currently, there are some challenges. Hardware platforms are very expensive here, software is still quite expensive, there’s not a lot of disposable income, and there’s unstable broadband internet. Also, I don’t think games are viewed very positively here, and that takes time. I’ve been whinging to media and government (in the UK) for many years about the positive impact of gaming. It’s not just about violence. If you look at the facts, only 3 per cent of games in the UK carry an 18+ rating. Most of them are fit for consumption by people of all ages. But the media always tends to focus on the violent games, but they don’t see that violent games are okay for mature users because not all films are for children and not all books are for children. This is a mature concept for mature users. So it takes time to become socially acceptable, to have broadband in place for downloads and online multiplayer, for hardware manufacturers to realise that this is going to be an important market going forward and that they should reduce the prices to make the hardware more affordable.
Which are the games that you usually play?
I’ve always been a Championship Manager fan. I support Manchester City so I have this fantasy that they’re going to win something for once. They never do, but it’s fun trying that and from a cerebral point of view, I like that challenge. I enjoy Fable; Fable 2 was a great RPG. If I’m traveling, I’ll play something like Professor Layton on my DS, and I love playing Guitar Hero with my kids. So it all depends on the mood and situation.
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