Rob Pardo (born June 9, 1970) is an American

video game designer Video game design is the process of designing the content and rules of video games in the pre-production stage and designing the gameplay, environment, storyline and characters in the production stage. Some common video game design subdiscipline ...

. He is the former

Chief Creative Officer A chief creative officer (CCO) is the highest ranking position of the creative team within a company. Depending on the type of company, this position may be responsible for the overall look and feel of marketing, media, and branding associated w ...

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, the company was founded on February 8, 1991, under the name Silicon & Synapse, ...

, resigning on July 3, 2014. Previously he was the Executive Vice President of game design at Blizzard Entertainment, and prior to that the lead designer of ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

''. In 2006, he was named by ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on M ...

'' as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Pardo founded

Bonfire Studios Bonfire Studios is a video game development studio located in Orange County, California. It was founded in 2016 with funding from Andreessen Horowitz and Riot Games. Games Bonfire has not officially announced their first project. However in ...

in 2016. He raised $25 million from

Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z, legal name AH Capital Management, LLC) is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Andreessen H ...

and

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on ...

Games

Rob Pardo has been credited on the following games: ;Lead Designer *'' World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade'' *''

'' *'' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' *'' Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos'' *'' StarCraft: Brood War'' ;Designer *'' World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor'' *'' Diablo II'' *'' Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition'' *''

StarCraft ''StarCraft'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Chris Metzen and James Phinney and owned by Blizzard Entertainment. The series, set in the beginning of the 26th century, centers on a galactic struggle for dominance am ...

'' *''

Diablo III ''Diablo III'' is a hack-and-slash action role-playing game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, PlayStation 3 and ...

'' ;Producer *''

Mortal Kombat Trilogy ''Mortal Kombat Trilogy'' is a fighting game released by Midway in 1996 as the second and final update to '' Mortal Kombat 3'' (the first being '' Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3'') for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn and PCs. Further version ...

'' *'' Tempest X3'' *'' Whiplash'' ;Executive producer *''

EverQuest

Pardo played a Wood Elf Warrior named Ariel. He was Guild master of the ''

EverQuest ''EverQuest'' is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North Ame ...

'' guild Legacy of Steel, which accomplished many world-firsts. He met friend and former coworker Tigole ( Jeffrey Kaplan) during his time in Legacy of Steel. Tigole would go on to replace him as guild leader and was eventually offered a position as designer alongside Pardo.

References

External links

GameSpy interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pardo, Rob 1970 births Living people American video game designers Blizzard Entertainment people Place of birth missing (living people)