Bonfire Studios co-founder and Blizzard veteran Rob Pardo, speaking at GDC Festival of Gaming 2026, argues that the most critical milestone in game development is when a team genuinely falls in love with playing their own game. Drawing on decades of experience with franchises like StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and Diablo, Pardo notes that cancelled projects never reached this milestone, while successful ones saw teams obsessively extending playtests and improving the game. He believes developer passion creates a virtuous cycle of improvement and authentic belief in the product, which ultimately translates to players loving the game too.
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