About
Marco Labate — working alongside development teams.
I'm a Senior Game QA / Embedded DevQA Analyst with 10+ years in QA. I currently support RuneScape: Dragonwilds with Jagex via DAQA, working remotely from Italy.
I work with evolving features: understanding the intended experience, exploring what players might do differently, and checking how changes affect connected systems. I share reproducible evidence, blockers and uncertainty with QA, production and developers so the team can act while there is still time to adjust.
I approach games both as a tester and as a player. A good bug report should be actionable, but good QA also explains why an issue matters inside the real experience: controls, pacing, progression, feedback, clarity and player trust.
Professional timeline
Where the 10+ years and 100+ game titles/projects come from. Recent featured projects are credited under DAQA; earlier high-volume outsourced work spans many titles not individually listed here.
Keywords Studios
2016 – 2023
Game QA Analyst
Functional, compatibility, localization and regression QA across 100+ PC, console, mobile and VR titles/projects in a large-scale games outsourcing environment.
DAQA
2020 – Present
Project-based Game QA / Embedded DevQA
Focus testing and playtesting with DAQA, an external QA partner, covering 30+ titles across publishers and genres and expanding into embedded DevQA on RuneScape: Dragonwilds (Jagex) from 2025.
IBM · Kosmoy · TXT Group
2023 – Present
UAT, Regression & Data Validation
Software QA across banking, finance, enterprise and AI-platform environments for clients including BPER Banca and Edenred, covering UAT, regression, requirements validation, test case design, defect verification, SQL/data checks, XML validation and backend data investigation.
Who I am
My background spans large-scale outsourced game testing, localization, embedded development support and enterprise systems. That range helps me connect a player-facing symptom to the workflow or state behind it.
How I test
I establish the intended path, then vary action order, interrupt transitions and revisit earlier states. When a fix lands, I repeat the original reproduction and check connected flows for side effects.
Why games matter
Game QA requires game literacy. Understanding progression, combat feel, readability, onboarding, systems friction and long-term engagement makes testing sharper and more useful.
Software QA mindset
My software QA work strengthens my game QA practice: requirements validation, test case design, UAT, SQL checks, XML validation, logs, workflow states and defect lifecycle management.
Tools and technologies
Game QA / DevQA
Software QA
Technical validation
Tools & platforms
Communication
Testing methodologies
Game literacy and design interests
Beyond credited work, broad play experience informs how I evaluate player expectations, usability, pacing, onboarding, genre conventions, readability, combat feedback, multiplayer friction and player-facing quality.
Live worlds and long-term systems
MMOs and live games shaped the way I look at progression, onboarding, recurring content, player routines, social friction and long-term quality.
Story, characters and emotional impact
Narrative-heavy games shaped my attention to tone, character motivation, pacing, memorable moments and the way players emotionally attach to a world.
Visual identity and atmosphere
Strong art direction and atmosphere influence how I look at readability, composition, mood, visual feedback and whether a game world feels coherent.
Combat, systems and multiplayer feel
System-driven games shaped how I look at combat readability, feedback, balance, friction, encounter flow, multiplayer clarity and mechanical consistency.