GDC WILL RETURN TO THE MOSCONE CENTER MARCH 17-21, 2025 

Conference Featured 1,000+ Speakers, 325 Exhibitors, 730 Lectures, Summits and Roundtables, The Independent Games Festival Awards, Game Developers Choice Awards and More

SAN FRANCISCO – March 27, 2024 – This year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, has officially come to a close after hosting nearly 30,000 registered attendees for five full days of inspiring sessions and networking opportunities with peers and leaders in the games industry. GDC will be returning to the Moscone Center next year, Monday, March 17 to Friday, March 21, 2025, and the call for submissions for GDC 2025 will open in early July 2024.

GDC 2024 featured 1,000+ speakers across 730 sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions in addition to networking opportunities. 325 top game industry companies exhibited their latest innovations. It was also a space for attendees to play and connect with the developers behind new and exciting independent games, including the finalists from the Independent Games Festival (IGF) in the IGF Pavilion and the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibit that is home to games that use alternative controllers including wheelchairs, toaster ovens and giant oversized hats.
 
“GDC exists to give developers a space to meet, network and learn. The need for that connection has never been more urgent. We were gratified to witness first-hand as aspiring developers and veteran game makers convened to share their knowledge and ambitions to create the amazing games that we will enjoy in the years ahead,” said Stephenie Hawkins, GDC Event Director. “In light of emerging generative AI technologies, layoffs and evolving working conditions, the Game Developers Conference will continue to provide developers with the key understandings and relationships to forge their way forward. We will also continue our efforts to recognize the amazing work of game makers and expand access to GDC content to a wider audience.”
 
GDC featured workshops and sessions led by some of the biggest names in the games and entertainment industry. Esteemed developers shared their insights into the creations of hit games including: Alan Wake 2, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Zelda: Tears of Kingdom, Baldur’s Gate 3, and more. During GDC, there were several major reveals including Xreal’s live demonstrations of its Xreal Air 2 AR glasses, AMD’s announcement of AMD FSR 3.1 and Magmic’s unveiling of their Web3 MLB-licensed mobile and web game. Roblox, NVIDIA and Ubisoft also sparked interest with their AI reveals, where Roblox presented its AI-powered tools to boost 3D content creation, NVIDIA announced its AI B200 chip and Ubisoft unveiled its generative AI NEO NPCs. Lastly, Epic Games’ State of Unreal revealed news about its upcoming iOS and Android store debut, new Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra trailer, new Chrono Odyssey trailer, addition of MetaHumans to UEFN and expanded partnership with Lego Group.

A centerpiece of the event was the “GDC Main Stage: A Developer’s Concert.” The live instrumental performance showcased influential and notable game scores throughout history, including 2024 IGF, GDCA and Grammy Awards nominees. Conducted by Austin Wintory, composer for games like Stray Gods, Journey and more, and co-hosted by Troy Baker, acclaimed actor known for The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, plus many more, the concert was performed by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
 
GDC 2024 honored the top developers of the past year with the 26th annual Independent Games Festival Awards and the 24th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA). Notably, Visai Games’ Venba won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Anthology of the Killer, developed by Thecatamites, Tommy Tone and A. Degen, won the Nuovo Award, which honors titles that make the awards jurors think differently about games as a medium. At the Game Developers Choice Awards, Baldur’s Gate 3 took home four trophies: Game of the Year, Best Narrative, Best Design and the Audience Award, while the developers of Venba earned two awards: Best Debut and Social Impact Award. A recording of the IGF and GDCA ceremonies can be viewed at http://twitch.tv/gdc.
 
GDC introduced several new initiatives this year including GDC Travel Together program to help attendees form networking walking groups between six locations throughout San Francisco and the Moscone Center; a 24-hour GDC Safety phone line (+1 925-852-4361) that is available from March 14 through April 5 to field any safety concerns that came up around GDC; the Game History Gallery that showcased games from marginalized developers as well as tips on how to preserve games; introduced sunflower stickers for attendees with invisible disabilities who may need additional assistance; and launched brand-new GDC Start-Up for companies that have been in the industry for less than 5 years and have fewer than 50 employees.
 
GDC continued multiple programs to expand access to GDC content, including the Equal Opportunity Attendance Program, which offers 1,000 complimentary GDC Expo passes to applicants who were otherwise unable to attend without considerable financial assistance. This year, 700+ passes were donated through the GDC scholarships program, made in partnership with more than 25+ organizations dedicated to supporting and uplifting underrepresented voices in the industry.
 
In addition, GDC provided all IGF finalists travel stipends to ensure they could attend and participate in the conference. GDC celebrated finalists with the annual IGF Pavilion with a kiosk and equipment to highlight their games to the public at no cost and IGF Award winners receive prize money for their incredible work.
 
Other support resources included affordable onsite childcare services, an ADA accessible kiosk at the IGF Pavilion, accessible controllers at alt.ctrl.GDC and Arcade Play, reserved seating at all sessions for those with visual or auditory impairments, and a complimentary bike valet service for attendees. Each year, GDC adds a selection of sessions to its video archive, GDC Vault, available at no cost to the game developer community. All sessions added to GDC Vault include closed captions in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese.
 
To ensure an inclusive environment, all GDC attendees were required to abide by GDC’s strict Code of Conduct, which was heavily promoted throughout Moscone. It states that GDC will not tolerate any unacceptable behaviors including intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, derogatory or demeaning conduct by any attendees of GDC and related events, and that these behaviors could result in expulsion from the event.

For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook or Twitter. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.

About GDC
The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision makers, and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game development community year-round through events and digital media.
 
GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organizer in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information visit www.informa.com.

GDC is back. The #GDC2024 event is the first we would consider to be at the attendance levels we saw just before the pandemic. Attendees had beautiful weather, a bustling expo hall, and tons of great people to meet and talk shop across Yerba Buena Gardens and beyond.

Mondays are normally lighter warm-up days for the conference, but we experienced quite a busy start with West Hall filled with Community and Biz Dev sessions. Tuesday increased this same activity with Wednesday and Thursday turning up the bustle from hall to hall as the expo floor opened up. Friday is generally a wrap-up day and our flight out of town. Regardless of which days you attended, it is clear to us that GDC is back to its prominent days pre-pandemic.

Even though the conference had a lot of activity and discussions of all sorts, the dominant discussion above all was the poor state of the industry. Everyone we talked to was concerned either about the layoffs or the inability to get funding to hire folks for new projects. It was a depressing talking point for everyone. The industry’s passion won’t be dampened though, as we participated in just as many discussions on how the industry can pull itself up from its bootstraps and move forward.

Thanks to MeetToMatch, Unity, PocketGamer.biz, Xsolla, IGDA Foundation, NVIDIA, and so many more for meeting with us, and of course, Game Developers Conference for their support. Without these great connections and associated industry events, we wouldn’t be able to support the Events for Gamers calendar to the degree that you see it.

Until next year’s GDC 2024, see you at PAX East, Insomnia Gaming Festival, and Dstars to wrap up the month of March.

World’s Longest-Running Professional Game Industry Event Kicks off 38th Edition; Attendees Can Expect a Week of Education, Innovation and Connection

SAN FRANCISCO – March 18, 2024 – The 2024 Game Developers Conference (GDC), the world’s largest gathering of game industry professionals and enthusiasts who are devoted to the art and science of making games, begins its 38th edition today at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. The week-long conference will feature more than 1,000 experienced speakers, 700 insightful sessions, workshops, roundtable discussions and networking events alongside 345 exhibitors on the GDC Expo floor.

Starting with two days of GDC Summits on March 18 and 19, the conference offers deep dives into specific game development disciplines, with central topics that include level design, art direction, artificial intelligence, user interface design, community management, technical artistry, game narrative, math in game development and much more. The summits equip attendees with actionable skills and philosophies to incorporate into their careers and hobbies.

The conference continues on Wednesday, March 20, the opening day of GDC’s core conference and commences with the GDC Main Stage Performance titled “A Developer’s Concert” in North Hall at 9:00am PT. This must-see performance will treat attendees to a unique musical presentation featuring world-class composer Austin Wintory, known for Stray Gods, Journey, Banner Saga 1-3, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate and more, who will conduct a live instrumental performance showcasing influential and notable game scores from the past year. Austin will be joined by the widely acclaimed voice actor Troy Baker, heard in such games as The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite, and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. All attendees are invited to attend this exciting performance.

Core Concept sessions will continue from Wednesday, March 20 through Friday, March 22. These sessions will focus on many of the key pillars of game development: Audio, Business & Marketing, Design, Production & Team Leadership, Programming and Visual Arts. World-renowned designers will lead sessions on The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy XVI, Alan Wake 2, Tetris, The Elder Scrolls, Karateka, Star Wars: TIE Fighter and much more.

The 26th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF), the longest-running festival, summit and showcase celebrating independent games and their creators, and the 24th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs), the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry’s top games and developers, will take place back-to-back on Wednesday, March 20, starting at 6:00pm PT. Both ceremonies are available to attend for all GDC 2024 pass holders and will be live-streamed on the event mobile app and the official GDC Twitch channel. The awards will be archived on Twitch and the official GDC YouTube channel.

“GDC is dedicated to the art and science of making video games and is proud to be a hub for meaningful connection, learning and inspiration among both the industry’s brightest and its rising stars,” said Stephenie Hawkins, GDC Event Director. “We are excited to welcome back the GDC community for the 38th year, and for them to experience new programs like the Main Stage musical performance and Game History Gallery, alongside GDC’s tried and true sessions, workshops and programs we have every year.”

The GDC Expo floor is where top game industry companies exhibit their latest innovations and meet with attendees. It also features special community spaces where attendees can meet or reconnect and play, ponder and inspire each other. The alt.ctrl.GDC showcase returns this year, celebrating its 10th anniversary as it’s become one of GDC’s most acclaimed community spaces. Visitors can play games using alternative controllers, many of which focus on providing new accessibility features, and meet the developers behind these unique projects. The IGF Pavilion hosts the finalists of the IGF Awards, providing attendees with a chance to play some of the most exciting and boundary-pushing independent games that will be seen during the IGF Award ceremony on Wednesday evening. Curated by the Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) in Oakland, California, alongside their community partner Civic Design Studios, GDC Arcade Play offers attendees a spot to play and enjoy over a dozen incredible games that helped shape the industry. GDC Play is an interactive showcase on the GDC Expo floor featuring innovative projects and games and the emerging and independent developers who created them. Also new this year is the Game History Gallery, created in partnership with the Video Game History Foundation. Displaying historic pieces of gaming hardware, a handful of playable games and a donation space, attendees can learn about the importance of video game preservation and experience inspiring and pivotal games from the past.

For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter/X, or RSS. Official photos are available via the official GDC Flickr account.

About GDC
The Game Developers Conference® (GDC) is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers, and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game development community year-round through events and digital media.

GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and the largest B2B Events organizer in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information visit www.informa.com.