Ex-Blizzard exec commands others to stop taking devs for granted as EA, Ubisoft, and too many more drown the industry in layoffs: "The thing that made the game special in the first place is the people who built it"

Layoffs have been horribly commonplace over the past few years, as publishers and studios of all shapes and sizes grapple with uncertain economic prospects. During his keynote at GDC 2026, Rob Pardo, former Blizzard CCO and co-founder of Bonfire Studios, called for executives to place more value on developers than the games.

"To those of you who are executives or business leaders, I will leave you with one final thought: If you create a game that truly endures, it's incredibly difficult," he said, as transcribed by PCGamer. "And if you're fortunate enough to launch one of those games, the rewards can be extraordinary."

Given that he was part of the groups that shipped Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft, and StarCraft 2, Pardo knows behind any great release is a creative group who clearly managed to cultivate something special. "But in my experience, if you built a game like that, you also built an incredible team," Pardo continues. "And personally, I think the game team is more valuable than the game itself."

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Just recently, EA made layoffs within its Battlefield studios, despite Battlefield 6 being a record-setting installment in the series. Ubisoft laid off staff and cancelled the upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake. Highguard, reportedly funded by Tencent, went from closing The Game Awards to shutting down in a matter of months.

Job security appears to be at an all-time low, and Pardo believes companies are devaluing institutional knowledge. "All of the mistakes, the learning, and the North Stars that led the team to the final product are long buried," he says, before ending on a final plea to those in charge.

"So treasure that team, nurture that team, give them the autonomy to keep taking care of the players, because the thing that made the game special in the first place is the people who built it," Pardo states.

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