Agenda

Creating an enduring game that players love is the ambition for many of us in the games industry. In recent years, some business leaders have even formalized that ambition under the banner of the “Forever Game.”

Rob Pardo has spent his career shaping games like StarCraft, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, among others, where the goal was simpler: build games that felt deep, fun, and worth playing again tomorrow. Looking back, a pattern emerged. Every game that shipped reached a moment when the team fell so deeply in love with the core experience that they had to be told to stop playing and get back to work. Every game that was canceled never reached that point. That moment cannot be scheduled or mandated. It must be discovered.

At Bonfire, the team has spent the past decade on its own odyssey building Arkheron. As any game developer knows, the path is rarely a straight line. It is marked by pivots, false starts, and moments of epiphany that only emerge through iteration.

In this keynote, Rob will share what he has learned about building games with the potential to last - why playing the game to build the game is essential, how to cultivate a team that’s obsessed with creating an experience players genuinely love, and why that obsession must be paired with the humility to let players decide if it deserves to last. With Arkheron, the team were the first players and co-creators, and they are now widening that circle to build alongside their community. They do not know exactly where the road leads, but they know they have found the spark of something they cannot stop playing.

Attend this official Festival Keynote taking place Thursday, March 12, 2026 at 9-9:50am on GDC Main Stage. Early access to keynote seating for VIP and Game Changer passholders begins at 8:15am. Doors open to all GDC passholders at 8:30am. We recommend getting there early to secure seats for you and your GDC crew!