Ian Livingstone, a long-time pitcher for the Raiders Men's Slowpitch .png)
Team and the 69ers (more recently Niners) co-ed team in the 1980s and 90s, has been advanced from an OBE to a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the New Year Honours List for services to the computer gaming industry.
Gaming pioneer
Ian has been one of world's leading pioneers of interactive entertainment and fiction and was formerly the Creative Director and Chairman (now Life President) at Eidos, the UK's leading developer and publisher of video games. Along with Steve Jackson, who also played for many years for the Raiders Men's Team, and John Peake, Ian co-founded the iconic games company Games Workshop in 1975, launching Dungeons & Dragons in Europe, and subsequently its retail chain and White Dwarf magazine.
In 1982, Ian and Steve created the best-selling role-playing games book series, Fighting Fantasy, which has sold over 16 million copies to date.
Ian made the leap to computer games two years later, designing Eureka, the first title released by publisher Domark in 1984. He returned to the company in the early 1990s as a major investor, overseeing a merger that created Eidos, where he was Chairman for seven years. At Eidos he helped secure and bring to market some of its most famous properties including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and Hitman. Ian became Life President of Eidos for Square Enix, which bought the publisher in 2009, and has creative input in all the Eidos-label games.
Honours
In 2002, Ian won the Gift of the Academy in the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for outstanding contribution to the community and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours List of 2006.
In 2010, Ian was asked to act as a Skills Champion by government minister Ed Vaizey, tasked with producing a report reviewing the UK video games industry. He was made an honorary doctor by Bournemouth University in 2011 and in 2012 he co-authored the NextGen report for the government urging changes in education policy to assist the UK games development industry.
Softball career
Now 63, Ian was born in Prestbury, Cheshire and attended Altrincham Grammar School, but eventually moved to London, where he later discovered and took up softball.
Ian was one of the leading pitchers during softball's early years in London, winning National Championships with the London Raiders Men's Slowpitch Team, one of two teams (along with the Zoo Crew) who had their initial homes in Regents Park.
When co-ed slowpitch started to develop, Ian joined the 69ers and pitched for many years on the successful teams run by Elissa Anderson and Dave Baird, and anchored by BSF Hall of Fame shortstop Tim Ritchey.