EIF09: Ian Livingstone Talks Eidos, Blockbusters & Megan Fox

Ian Livingstone held a Q&A for us press types at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival this morning, talking about everything from Lara to liquidation. The ‘Life President’ of Eidos fielded questions on an array of subjects. You’ll have to hit the jump to see what he said.

With Arkham Asylum being shown and promoted heavily here in Edinburgh, it was inevitable that the question of Eidos shifting it’s focus to licences rather than new intellectual property would crop up. The idea of Eidos changing like this was met with a resounding no. Livingstone said that Eidos would keep their focus on “new IP”, but that if licences, of the same calibre as Batman, came along, they wouldn’t hesitate to pick them up. That said, they “won’t chase” specific licences.

Arkham devs, Rocksteady Studios, were also brought up. There had been rumblings that Eidos had stripped IO Interactive of the Hitman franchise (a series they created) and had given it to Rocksteady. Surprisingly, Livingstone did comment on this. Saying that the rumours were: “absolutely not true”. A motion capture worker says otherwise, but this is where Ian declined to comment further.

The topic then shifted to the, oft talked about, social acceptance of videogames as an entertainment medium. Nintendo’s Wii and DS were both brought into the equation, as was Activision’s Guitar Hero. Livingstone said that it was these games that would turn the non-believers and went on to say that for games to become “socially acceptable”, people need to see that it’s not just kids in their bedrooms playing them (using himself as an example).

A big topic at the conference has been the subject of tax breaks for those wanting to develop games in the UK. Again Ian waded in, saying: “give us the same help [as other countries] or the industry will go into decline [in the UK]“. Saying that the government, basically, need to sit up and take notice of games like GTA and Fable and offer UK developers some help. A statement I very much agree with. He went on to say that without said help the UK would end up “losing talent” to overseas studios and, without help, the UK would become a “work for hire nation”.

Keeping with the subject of UK-based developers, University ‘Games Design’ courses were also brought up. Whilst Livingstone didn’t discourage people from taking such courses, he did say that people should think about the technical side of the industry more. “Maths elements” are scaring applicants away making University’s cut these out “to get bums on seats” and meet their quota of students.

Livingstone chaired ‘The Great Debate’ panel yesterday, one which spoke about blockbuster games. Having not been able to comment during the debate, the question of the decline of blockbusters was put to the man from Eidos. “All media has blockbusters and they’re going to continue” was his answer. Surely that confirms it then?

The subject then turned to more of Eidos’ established franchises. First up, Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. Now we’ve all seen those leaked images pertaining to a reboot of the franchise, but Ian couldn’t comment on what the future was for Ms. Croft. “I can’t really say where the series is going” was an answer that disappointed many in the room, but he did say that they’ll “try not to disappoint”. Something he said they had done with other games in the franchise, such as Angel Of Darkness.

The mention of a third Tomb Raider movie sparked some interest, with Livingstone himself admitting he’d love to see another. This, of course, lead to Megan Fox. Sadly, no comment could be made on whether the Transformers star would be the new Lara. Eidos have had success with, both, Tomb Raider and Hitman becoming movies. Livingstone said that “the [videogame] industry has not always done justice to the licence they’ve taken” and that the same could be said when turning a game into a movie.

Just Cause 2 (a game I shall be going ‘eyes on’ with shortly) was next up to bat. Although the first game had gained some commercial success, it wasn’t too well received critically. Ian admitted the game had been a long time coming and that the first game had it’s problems. This time will apparently be different, with Livingstone comparing it to “an all action Hollywood movie” and saying “missions will be a lot more interesting and exciting”. Something that certainly bodes well.

The final key point that was made, one so especially poignant with the imminent closure of GRIN, was developers going into liquidation. Ian felt strongly about this and said “it’s happening to fast in this country [UK]“. However he did say that a developers “inability to scale” and “pride” were big factors in why many studios are no longer with us.

Asked about his highlight of the show (both the conference and the playable demos on show), Livingstone talked about Batman and, Eidos’ other game at the show, Mini Ninjas. Saying of the two that “as a gamer, and I do count as one, they’re both worth the support”. As for the conference he commented on, President of EA Sports, Peter Moore’s “extra ordinary speech”.

I’ll try and keep you posted with all the goings on at the show, that is if this net connection doesn’t fail me.