After hosting a slate of events in the last year that have been exclusively online events, it appeared that Game Developer Conference (GDC) organizers would offer only two online events, the GDC Masterclass and the GDC Showcase, for 2021. Then, in July, GDC 2021 was planned as a hybrid offline and online event.
But, on Thursday, GDC staff posted an update from Katie Stern, GDC’s Conference GM, which announced the trio of events, including GDC 2021, as online-only.
GDC Masterclass is the first GDC-branded event, coming up on March 4-5 and is one- and two-day smaller virtual workshops with intensive hands-on training.
Next, from March 15-19, the GDC Showcase is a first-time event and a free-to-attend digital event. The format is described as “a taste of what GDC is all about” but with a different array of content and formats.
GDC 2021 retains the same dates the event was earlier announced with: the week-long period of July 19-23, with a focus on content, networking, community-building, and celebrations.
To stress the rationale behind the decision to go digital in 2021, Stern notes that “While we can’t wait to gather in the halls of Moscone together again, and we did consider an in-person component this year, we have decided that it’s more important that our speakers, attendees and sponsors be able to plan ahead, to continue to be as safe as possible, and to spend our attention on delivering the best possible GDC.”
Along with GDC, the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) will take place on July 21 and livestreamed on the GDC Twitch channel. The submissions for the IGF Awards have been sent in and will be announced in May. More news about the GDCA’s will come soon.
Also, in the blog, the post addressed the State of the Game Industry Survey publication plans, updates to the GDC Vault, the event’s content archive, and Gamasutra, their editorial outlet.In addition to these events that have already been announced, organizers also announced additional networking and learning-focused GDC-branded events for later on in 2021, which will be announced later on in the year.
To catch up with all the changes and learn more about GDC, visit the GDC website
