Ian Livingstone to leave Eidos and Square Enix to focus on other projects

Eidos president Ian Livingstone will part ways with the Square Enix subsidiary, the publisher announced today.

In a post on the Square Enix blog, the publisher said Livingstone is "setting out on a new chapter to focus more time on the important projects he is working on outside of Square Enix".

Described as one of the founding fathers of the UK games industry, Livingstone's career has spanned two decades. He co-founded Games Workshop, brought Dungeons & Dragons to Europe and co-wrote early Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. He made his first game in 1984 and was an important part of the early years of Eidos Interactive, which brought us Tomb Raider, Hitman, Thief, Deus Ex and Legacy of Kain.

When Eidos was purchased by Square Enix, Livingstone stayed on as life president. He's also served as the vice chair of UKIE; chair of Playdemic, Playmob, Skillset’s Video Games Council, and Next Gen Skills Committee; member of the Creative Industries Council; trustee of GamesAid; and as an advisor to the British Council.

Livingstone's other achievements include setting up The Livingstone Foundation to open Free Schools and Academies, and being named the UK government’s skills champion, and convincing The Secretary of State for Education to introduce Computing into the school national curriculum beginning in 2014. He's received a BAFTA Special Award, two honorary PhDs, an OBE and a CBE.

The respected veteran will remain active in the industry as an advisor and entrepreneur in social and mobile games, and may work with Square Enix in the future.

"All of us at Square Enix do want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Ian for his unparalleled tenure and contribution to this business and the UK games industry. And we wish him every success with his future projects and new ventures," the publisher said.

Square Enix suggests interested parties follow Livingstone on Twitter.

Thanks, GameInformer.