Eidos president says broadband holding back games industry

Slow and outdated broadband networks are the biggest problem facing the games industry, according to developer Eidos' life president Ian Livingstone.

Addressing delegates at the Broadband World Forum in Amsterdam, Mr Livingstone said internet connections have become a bottleneck for the top end of the games market.

For instance, he explained each new Call of Duty title takes longer to download than its predecessor because the size of games is rising at a much faster rate than broadband speeds are increasing, reports Telecoms.com.

"We have to worry about broadband when we should be thinking about making better games," the Eidos chief bemoaned.

Latency is just as important an issue as throughput when it comes to networked games, he added, with these titles requiring rates of at least a single frame of video.

The issue is so substantial that Microsoft and Sony - manufacturers of the Xbox and PlayStation consoles - have opted against moving to a download-only model for their next-generation products, Mr Livingstone noted.

He concluded by stating the games sector is starting to offer a service rather than a product and called on the broadband industry to help this service take off.