Interactivity is the name of the game, says Livingstone
IAN Livingstone, the Manchester-born founder of Tomb Raider publisher Eidos, said the business is moving away from purely developing games to generating “interactive entertainment” in partnership with other media companies.
Speaking at publisher EMAP’s Media Festival in Manchester yesterday he said the advent of new technology, such as smart phones, and the predominance of social media, meant it was essential to work across several platforms and engage the audience in different ways.
He said: “We’re collaborating in many ways, we’re not creating a game or a movie but interactive entertainment. We’re engaging with our audience interactively.” Companies like Eidos are being assisted by the willingness of mainstream media companies to incorporate games into their content.
“Linear media, like TV and films, offer a passive experience,” said Mr Livingstone. “With games you’re absolutely creating and directing that action. That’s what makes them more compelling. TV and film are trying to work out how to include that.”
Mr Livingstone, who started out distributing Dungeons & Dragons and wrote the Fighting Fantasy books with Steve Jackson, also said companies distributing free games through phone applications and social media stand a chance of “monetising” these ideas but they have to be compelling. “You will sell a game well if it’s got average graphics and good gameplay,” he said.
He was speaking at a debate about the “gamification of everything” which examined the predominance of games in media content, from iPhone applications to television game shows.
The panel also included Nick Hall, director of operations for digital media at Endemol, the production company behind Channel 4’s Million Pound Drop. The show has used social media to recruit contestants and has an online game which allows viewers to play along with the show in real time. Mr Hall said around 8.6% of viewers were playing at home during the second series.
David Rose, chief executive of games developer We R Interactive, and Tom Thirlwall, chief executive of Big Balls Films, both based in London, discussed I Am Playr a point-of-view football game they are preparing to launch that incorporates video and social media.
The festival continues today at the Palace Hotel with Richard Halton, chief executive of YouView, discussing the future of internet TV; financiers looking at the investment climate; and senior MediaCity BBC executives, Joe Godwin and Adrian Van Klaveren, addressing the question of content funding.
