Alex
El Toxico
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Interessanter Artikel, lest ihn euch mal durch.
Interessanter Artikel, lest ihn euch mal durch.
TOMB RAIDER BOSS BOWS OUT AS EIDOS CHIEF: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Eidos's confirmation that gaming legend Ian Livingstone will step down as company chairman ends an era: the great man talks Xbox and PS2 inside
18:35 Eidos, the largest third-party game publisher in Britain, confirmed today that Ian Livingstone is to step down as company chairman to take a role as creative director.
The move signals a significant shift in one of the most illustrious careers in British gaming. Livingstone is something of the archetypal profiteer, having led British games publishing for the last seven years.
Livingstone achieved fame with partner Steve Jackson with the massively successful Fighting Fantasy books, but journeyed into the electronic side of gaming as the series waned.
Eidos was formed in 1995, making an instant name for itself with Tomb Raider in November 1996. Lara Croft has become one of the most successful and enduring icons of gaming global.
The publisher came under intense pressure to sell out in 2000, reportedly to Infogrames, but Livingstone rebuffed all take-over attempts while showing an unbridled passion for games and gaming. Buy-out speculation culminated in Livingstone giving what amounted to an emotional speech at Eidos's pre-ECTS event in 2000, pleading with the press to back the company and to support maintaining Eidos as a British institution.
We caught up with the man himself this morning for a chat on the European Xbox price cut, what Sony means to Eidos and the company's line-up leading into the back half of this year.
You're the largest British third-party publisher. How is the Xbox price cut going to affect your fortunes?
Livingstone: It's obviously a good thing. Any movement downwards in the price of hardware is always a good thing for software publishers, because they're going to sell more games. It has to be a good thing. Competition between hardware manufacturers is also a good thing: not only is it good for consumers, it gives publishers choice and a little bit more strength.
You do actually welcome the move then?
Livingstone: Absolutely. Who wouldn't?
Why do you think the price has been reduced in Europe specifically and not in Japan or America?
Livingstone: Well, I'm sure [Microsoft] is going to address Japan as a separate issue, but Xbox has been more successful in its launch in America than it has in Europe. Sony has done a brilliant job in Europe with the launch of PlayStation 2, and its no surprise that it's the dominant hardware format, because there are a 70 million PSone's in the world and people naturally migrate from one platform to another with the brand they known and trust. Sony is the largest consumer electronics company in the world, but at the end of the day it's software that drives hardware sales. People don't just admire technol
ogy, and all the best titles to date have been available to PlayStation 2, not Xbox.
That said, do you think the price cut and the promise of stronger sales may see Xbox become a more attractive proposition for developers?
Livingstone: Yes, I think it does. We're certainly supporting Xbox. At the end of the day it's technically a great machine.
How many titles have you actually got coming out on it now?
Livingstone: Well, we had a launch title with Mad Dash, which did very well in the States. I think Blood Omen is number one in the States on Xbox at the moment. Obviously, we've been able to put Championship Manager on Xbox where we haven't been able to put it on PlayStation 2 because of memory constraints. It's certainly a good thing for publishers and we will support it with more titles.
You've recently announced that the next generation Tomb Raider series is going to be PlayStation 2 only. You've had a very successful relationship with Sony, but there must have been a point where you considered porting it over to Xbox?
Livingstone: Yeah, well, we've done it and we can't reveal the reasons why in hard cash terms, but there were strong commercial reasons to go exclusive with Sony.
Don't you think that's a bit of a kick in the teeth for Xbox?
Livingstone: Well, Microsoft may view it as a bit of a kick in the teeth, but it's certainly the best thing for Eidos.
You had quite a tough year last year, but you're obviously strengthening this year. You've got a good line-up for the rest of this year...
Livingstone: I think we've got our best line-up yet.
So can you see things properly turning around by the end of this year?
Livingstone: Well, we can't make any predictions on profit, being a PLC. But we're very, very confident in our product line-up. Apart from the new Tomb Raider, TimeSplitters 2 looks amazing, we have Deus Ex 2, Championship Manager 4, a whole raft of excellent products. I think we're better placed than we've ever been.
Also dass sich Eidos so deutlich hinter Sony stellt hätte ich nie gedacht. Was da wohl an Geld geflossen ist!!