Ian Hetherington (June 1952 – 14 December 2021) was a British businessman who co-founded computer games developer

Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hether ...

Biography

He was a co-founder of

, a company that developed

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

s. Along with Jonathan Ellis, Hetherington founded Psygnosis following the collapse of

Imagine Software Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, ...

where Hetherington was the Financial Director. Based in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Psygnosis's team was responsible for publishing such games as '' Shadow of the Beast'', '' Wipeout'', and ''

Lemmings A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...

''. Psygnosis was later acquired by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

in 1993 to work on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

console. The name Psygnosis eventually became defunct, and the company became known as

Studio Liverpool Psygnosis Limited (known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hetherington, Jonathan Elli ...

. Multiple sequels to many of Psygnosis's games were released, including a PSP release of ''Wipeout'', called ''

Wipeout Pure ''Wipeout Pure'' (stylised as ''wipE′out pu″rE'') is a futuristic racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in 2005 on 24 March for North Americ ...

''. Hetherington left Psygnosis in 1998. Hetherington was also Chairman of

Evolution Studios Evolution Studios Ltd. was a British video game developer based in Runcorn, Cheshire. The company was founded in 1999 by Martin Kenwright and Ian Hetherington, following the purchase of their studio Digital Image Design's publisher Ocean Softwa ...

and

Realtime Worlds Realtime Worlds Ltd. was a British video game developer based in Dundee, Scotland. The company was founded by David Jones in 2002. After developing ''Crackdown'' (2007) and '' APB: All Points Bulletin'' (2009), Realtime Worlds filed for admini ...

. He counted

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

s in club events as his hobby. He died on 14 December 2021, at the age of 69. Psygnosis co-founder Jonathan Ellis paid tribute on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

References

External links

The demise of Imagine #1

The demise of Imagine #2

MobyGames' rap sheet on Hetherington

How Ian Hetherington incubated gaming success (Sony PlayStation)
*
Photograph of Ian Hetherington circa. 2005
1952 births 2021 deaths 20th-century births British businesspeople Realtime Worlds {{UK-compu-bio-stub