THE CHAIRMAN

Think of a Chairman of a Public Company and you would probably think of a person with a business, financial or legal background who had little affinity for the products they sold or the people who bought them. However, In the case of Eidos they would be wrong.

Eidos is unique amongst games publishers in that their Chairman, Ian Livingstone is a true gamer at heart, and has held a fascination with gaming for over 30 years. In fact it could be said that by either accident or design, he has changed the lives of gamers the world over.

For his sins, he has been a lifelong Manchester City fan. More recently he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Technology by the University of Abertay Dundee for his contribution to gaming.

So, with this in mind, we thought you might like to here the story of how Ian came to be one of the most influential figures in modern day gaming. But beware it wasn't always a nice, plush office and prestigious title. Some of it is the stuff of nightmares!        

FROM BORED TO BOARD GAMES

Having moved down to London from Manchester in 1973 at the age of 23, Ian worked in the office of an oil company as a Marketing Assistant. Badly paid, he was just another face in the crowd, trapped in the monotonous cog of young working life, bored, despondent, and utterly frustrated by not being able to control his own destiny.

One avenue of escape from this dull world was by playing games with his flatmates, Steve Jackson and John Peake. There they were, stuck in a small, 3rd floor apartment in Shepherd's Bush with little money. Going out every night was expensive, but they always had games to fall back on as cheap entertainment.

Ian had always been fascinated with games. As a teenager in the 1960's, he played Monopoly and Cluedo like everybody else but found them 'boring games of luck'. After discovering 'Diplomacy' and 'Warlord' (thanks to Steve) he started writing short articles for a little known 'games fanzine' called 'Albion'. He then started playing esoteric boardgames published by 'Avalon Hill' and 'SPI' with hex grids and strategy in abundance. He also started playing tabletop miniature wargames with his Macedonian army winning many a battle. And the games collection came to London in 1973.

Sometimes whilst they were immersed in their gaming worlds they would talk about what it would take to make a business out of their hobby. At first it was just dreams. "Wouldn't it be great if...?" and "What if...?" So one day they decided to bite the bullet and turn their dream into reality!