Ian Livingston

I lead the research team at Blizzard Entertainment, where my team is responsible for player experience insights across World of Warcraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, and other titles. My work sits at the intersection of qualitative research and behavioral analytics. We explain not just what players do, but why they do it, and we get that understanding to the right people when it's the right time to act on it.

Before Blizzard I was Senior Manager of User Research at EA, working across FIFA, NHL, UFC, Mass Effect, and Battlefront. Before that I led research and analytics on the Far Cry franchise at Ubisoft Montreal, shipping Far Cry 3, Blood Dragon, Far Cry 4, and much of Far Cry Primal.

I speak and publish regularly on research practices. My work has appeared at GDC, CHI, SIGGRAPH, the IGDA Games User Research Summit, and in an Oxford University Press volume on games research methods. Recently I've been focused on how large language models change what research teams can do, and what that means for the discipline.

I hold an MSc from the University of Saskatchewan, where I studied human cognition, psychology, and player experience, and an Honours BSc in Computer Science with a focus on HCI and software engineering.

Reach me below, at ian@ianlivingston.ca, or on LinkedIn.