IAN Livingstone, a video game pioneer, returned to his former borough to inspire Trafford’s youths in a speech last Thursday (March 14).

The entrepreneur spoke at The Noise Festival, a one-day careers event at the Sale Waterside Arts Centre, about the importance of creativity, education and gaming.

He was educated at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in the 1960s before he co-founded Games Workshop in 1975.

He is now the Life President of Eidos, the video game company behind the lucrative Tomb Raider franchise.

“Anyone today can create Angry Birds in their own home. Supply chains are changing,” he said.

He added: “I want to see the UK as the number one in content creation for games.”

Mr Livingstone cited small team developers as models of inspiration, such as the Finnish developer Supercell, who are making millions a day with just two games designed for mobile devices.

“If we are going to make stuff, we need to learn how to code. We need people to make apps and be digital makers, not digital users,” he told the audience.

He co-authored the ‘Next Gen’ report in 2011, which successfully persuaded the Government to introduce computer science into the national curriculum.

Mr Livingstone left Altrincham Grammar for Boys in 1968. His favourite teacher was the then deputy head Roy Coleman for encouraging teamwork and collaboration instead of ‘putting pupils through a sausage machine’.

He has retained close links with his old school and has previously donated money for a refurbishment of its ICT suite.