Sir Ian Livingstone: The first Knight of the nerds
Christopher Dring
Head of Games B2B
Friday 7th January 2022
It's remarkable to think that not a single UK games industry person has ever received a knighthood or damehood before.
This is the country responsible for Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider, Lemmings, Total War, Donkey Kong Country, Forza Horizon, Wipeout, Worms and many of the biggest video games in the world. Yet, even though numerous people from the worlds of movies, music and sport are awarded such honours every time they are announced, the video games industry ends up empty handed.
Until now.
"It's really unbelievable, I'm still adjusting to it," Sir Ian Livingstone tells GamesIndustry.biz. "I got a letter yesterday to Sir Ian Livingstone and I said that can't be for me, that's far too grand."
Livingstone said he hadn't seen it coming, but that's not the case for the rest of the games business, who have been calling him 'Sir' for many years. Now it's official, and Livingstone believes it's another moment where the games industry is starting to get the sort of recognition that its sister industries have enjoyed for decades.
"I guess you could say it was love at first sight when they opened the door and there was Lara Croft on the screen"
"I've always believed that the games industry has been underrepresented with regards to awards and somebody had to be given a knighthood or a damehood at some point soon," he tells us. "Compared to the other creative industries it didn't seem very equitable considering how well the UK punches above it's weight in terms of content creation. Clearly I'm delighted it's me, but it does, at long last, recognise this incredible UK video games industry."
He continues: "The trouble with the games industry is it does not have celebrity. TV,
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