E107: Stop Hiring "Testers." Start Doing QA.

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You can't just test quality into a game at the end. You have to build it in from the start. Ignoring your Quality Assurance team's full value is a fast way to lose millions.

The state of game development is at a challenging inflection point, characterized by high-risk live service ambitions and a brain drain of senior talent. Host Ben Carcich sits down with Nathan Tiras, former Game Dev veteran (Riot Games, Singularity 6), to dissect this instability and dive deep into the discipline seen as an "entry-level" role: Quality Assurance (QA).

Nathan, who worked his way from a QA Analyst at Riot to the Director of QA and Live Service at Singularity 6 (makers of Palia), argues that QA is not just "testing" but a critical quality function that represents the voice of the player. This deep-dive explores how leaders must move beyond the "QA as tester" stereotype to unlock the massive subjective value and risk-prevention only highly skilled, respected QA professionals can provide.

What You'll Learn in this Episode:

• What "quality" really means in 2025, and why the best QA teams shape player experience
• How bringing QA in at pre-production saves time, money, and your launch day sanity
• Why bug counts don't define QA's worth
• The human edge of judgment, creativity, and tribal knowledge that no tool can replicate
• How great leaders build quality teams that protect business continuity and deliver real returns

Learn more about Nathan:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-tiras-he-him-8a45754/

Company: https://www.whatnot.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathantiras/?hl=en

Board Game Geek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/95100/nathan-tiras

Check his other YouTube appearances:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2mmERgh19c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyt3bnBgNqk

Connect with us:

🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/

🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/#

🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg

🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw

#GameDev #GameQA #QualityAssurance #GameLeadership #GameProducer #LiveServiceGames #BuildingBetterGames