GDC attracts almost 30K attendees and returns to SF in early March 2026

The 2025 Sport Builders Convention (GDC) drew almost 30,000 registered attendees to San Francisco final week, nearly the identical quantity as final yr.

The occasion is the world’s largest and longest-running occasion serving professionals devoted to the artwork and science of constructing video games. It went on for 5 days, with inspiring classes and networking alternatives with friends and leaders throughout the video games {industry}.

GDC additionally launched the primary annual GDC Nights after-hours occasion, with two evenings of participating neighborhood content material that blended TV, films, comedy, gaming and enjoyable actions to additional underline GDC’s dedication to bringing the world collectively by way of video games. GDC will probably be returning to the Moscone Heart subsequent yr, Monday, March 9 to Friday, March 13, 2026. The decision for submissions for GDC 2026 will open in early July 2025. 

I heard lots of chatter of how the occasion wasn’t as crowded as earlier than, so the quantity surprises me, though it’s imprecise. Lodge lobbies weren’t full, and the present ground wasn’t as crowded as in years previous. I noticed respectable attendance on the convention. Then once more, I wasn’t counting individuals. The selection of returning to San Francisco will flip some heads, as many are hoping to see the occasion transfer on to a brand new metropolis or perhaps a new nation. And subsequent yr GDC will overlap instantly with SXSW 2026, which is able to happen in Austin, Texas, from March 12 to March 18, 2026. We’ll see if GDC overlaps with Nvidia’s GTC in San Jose subsequent yr; the occasions have overlapped for a few years now.

In the course of the inaugural GDC Nights program, which ran on Monday, March 17 and Thursday, March 20, the 6,000 attendees participated in a slate of actions that included a screening and roundtable that includes the celebrities of Hulu’s Deli Boys, a screening of the deeply emotional and affirming Netflix documentary, The Outstanding Lifetime of Ibelin and a stay comedy present going down on the earth of Animal Crossing hosted by comic Jenny Yang. 

GDC 2025 hosted 1,000+ audio system throughout 750 classes, workshops and roundtable discussions, along with a plethora of networking alternatives. I moderated a session on layoffs and the job outlook in gaming with Amir Satvat, the sport job champion. As at all times, facet occasions had been in style at GDC. I made it to Drake Star Companions’ CEO Reception, and Griffin Gaming Companions’ annual GDC celebration. We additionally threw our personal facet occasion, GamesBeat Crossfire.

GDC featured builders, exhibitors and attendees from over the globe with 400 high sport {industry} groups together with Meta, Tencent Video games, Snail Video games, and Servers.com, exhibiting their newest merchandise, companies and improvements. 

It was additionally an area for attendees to play and join with the builders behind new and thrilling unbiased video games, together with the finalists from the Impartial Video games Pageant (IGF) within the IGF Pavilion and the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibit that’s dwelling to video games that use different controllers together with a seesaw, a cat’s furry behind and a damaged bathe.

“Seeing the the engrossing lectures, the collective labor organizing and the superb performances from Austin Wintory alongside the artists at GDC Nights has been an affirming expertise and helps reinforce the worth of GDC’s mission to attach builders by way of their shared ardour for sport growth,” stated Stephenie Hawkins, GDC Occasion Director, in a press release. “The previous few years have seen growing challenges for sport builders the world over, however we’re proud to see GDC proceed to function a beacon. We look ahead to seeing our buddies right here once more, and hope that the connections and insights they gained will carry by way of to their subsequent superb sport initiatives.” 

GDC featured workshops and classes led by a number of the greatest names within the video games and leisure {industry}. Esteemed builders shared their insights into the creations of hit video games together with Astro Bot, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Like a Dragon, Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, Cut up Fiction, Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, Monument Valley 3, Tekken 8 and lots of extra.

Throughout GDC, there have been a number of main bulletins and divulges, together with the formation of the primary North American industry-wide union of online game staff, the United Videogame Employees-CWA Native 9433. Qualcomm made waves with the reveal of their Pocket S2, a brand new Android-based handheld gaming machine that will probably be powered by the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chipset and Roblox introduced the launch of its new open-source mannequin known as Dice.

The GDC Fundamental Stage featured a pair of shows that helped have fun video games and produce the enjoyment of the artwork to much more individuals world wide. On Wednesday, composer Austin Wintory (Stray Gods, Journey, Banner Saga Sequence) performed a completely new musical efficiency referred to as “GDC Fundamental Stage: A Developer’s Live performance” following the success of the efficiency’s debut throughout GDC 2024.

The hourlong live performance was carried out by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and featured lush orchestrations that spanned a long time of beloved sport scores together with works by Wilbert Roget, II, Darren Korb and others. On Thursday, the GDC Fundamental Stage hosted the revealing of ESA’s landmark Accessible Video games Initiative, a cross-industry effort to supply shoppers with clear details about the accessibility options obtainable in video video games. The initiative (www.accessiblegames.com) is absolutely supported by founding members Digital Arts, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Ubisoft. 

GDC 2025 honored the highest builders of the previous yr with the twenty seventh annual Impartial Video games Pageant (IGF) Awards and the twenty fifth annual Sport Builders Alternative Awards (GDCA). On the IGF Awards on Wednesday night time, the unbiased sport Eat Me gained the Seumas McNally Grand and The Nuovo Award, which honors experiences that make each gamers and the awards jurors assume in a different way about gaming as a medium. On the Sport Builders Alternative Awards Balatro was awarded the highly-coveted Sport of the Yr award, in addition to Greatest Debut, Greatest Design and the Innovation Award. Astro Bot, developed by PlayStation Studios Staff ASOBI and revealed by Sony Interactive Leisure, additionally claimed excessive honors on the present, successful the Greatest Audio and Greatest Expertise Awards.

Constructing off of its introduction in 2024, GDC continued to broaden upon its Journey Collectively program to assist attendees type networking strolling teams between a number of lodge areas all through San Francisco and the Moscone Heart; a 24-hour GDC Security telephone line (+1 925-852-4361) that’s obtainable 24/7 all through the occasion; the Sport Historical past Gallery that showcased video games from marginalized builders in addition to recommendations on protect video games.

GDC additionally continued a number of packages to broaden entry to GDC content material, together with the Equal Alternative Attendance Program, which affords 1,000 complimentary GDC Expo passes to candidates who had been in any other case unable to attend with out appreciable monetary help. This yr, 700+ passes had been donated by way of the GDC scholarships program, made in partnership with greater than 25+ organizations devoted to supporting and uplifting underrepresented voices within the {industry}. 

As well as, GDC offered all IGF finalists journey stipends to make sure they might attend and take part within the convention. GDC celebrated finalists with the annual IGF Pavilion with a kiosk and tools to focus on their video games to the general public for free of charge and IGF Award winners obtain prize cash for his or her unimaginable work.