Knighthood Awarded by Queen Elizabeth II for His Video Game Contributions
On January 3, 2022, Hiro Capital announced that one of their co-founders, Ian Livingstone, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. While this seems rather unusual, Sir Ian has made many contributions to the video game industry- and has for the past forty years.
It turns out that Sir Ian has been behind a lot of Video Game contributions. After founding Games Workshop, Livingstone invested and wrote games for, Domark, and Eidos Interactive, both of which eventually became the Square Enix Europe division. Before the acquisition, Livingstone helped take part in video game projects such as Tomb Raider remastered, Hitman, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, as well as writing the game Eureka! for Domark before it was acquired by Eidos Interactive in the 90s.
Since then, Livingstone has continued to make contributions to the video game industry, including investing in Fall Guys studio Tonic Games. He has also opened the Livingstone Academy in September 2021, which is a school focused on learning digital skills, as well as encouraging creativity.
This isn’t the first time that Livingstone has been recognized for his contributions to the video game industry over the years. In 2002, Livingstone received the BAFTA Interactive Special Award for his contributions to the video game industry, and in 2011 was given an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Bournemouth University.
This is also not the first time that the British Government has recognized his contributions either. Livingstone was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2006, and as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2013 for his contribution to the arts via the video game industry.
Livingstone had this to say on his receiving his knighthood: “Simply put, it is a huge honour for me and fantastic recognition for the UK games industry and the brilliant people who work in it. The industry has come a long way since I founded my first startup and I believe more than ever in Games and Gameplay as a global force for good.”
SOURCE: PRESS RELEASE