The 2025 Game Developers Conference (GDC) drew nearly 30,000 registered attendees to San Francisco last week, just about the same number as last year.
The event is the world’s largest and longest-running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games. It went on for five days, with inspiring sessions and networking opportunities with peers and leaders across the games industry.
GDC also introduced the first annual GDC Nights after-hours event, with two evenings of engaging community content that blended TV, movies, comedy, gaming and fun activities to further underline GDC’s commitment to bringing the world together through games. GDC will be returning to the Moscone Center next year, Monday, March 9 to Friday, March 13, 2026. The call for submissions for GDC 2026 will open in early July 2025.
I heard a lot of chatter of how the event wasn’t as crowded as before, so the number surprises me, even though it is imprecise. Hotel lobbies weren’t full, and the show floor wasn’t as crowded as in years past. I saw decent attendance at the conference. Then again, I wasn’t counting people. The choice of returning to San Francisco will turn some heads, as many are hoping to see the event move on to a new city or even a new country. And next year GDC will overlap directly with SXSW 2026, which will take place in Austin, Texas, from March 12 to March 18, 2026. We’ll see if GDC overlaps with Nvidia’s GTC in San Jose next year; the events have overlapped for a couple of years now.
During the inaugural GDC Nights program, which ran on Monday, March 17 and Thursday, March 20, the 6,000 attendees participated in a slate of activities that included a screening and roundtable featuring the stars of Hulu’s Deli Boys, a screening of the deeply emotional and affirming Netflix documentary, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin and a live comedy show taking place in the world of Animal Crossing hosted by comedian Jenny Yang.
GDC 2025 hosted 1,000+ speakers across 750 sessions, workshops and roundtable discussions, in addition to a plethora of networking opportunities. I moderated a session on layoffs and the job outlook in gaming with Amir Satvat, the game job champion. As always, side events were popular at GDC. I made it to Drake Star Partners’ CEO Reception, and Griffin Gaming Partners’ annual GDC party. We also threw our own side event, GamesBeat Crossfire.
GDC featured developers, exhibitors and attendees from over the globe with 400 top game industry teams including Meta, Tencent Games, Snail Games, and Servers.com, exhibiting their latest products, services and 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 a seesaw, a cat’s furry behind and a broken shower.
“Seeing the the engrossing lectures, the collective labor organizing and the amazing performances from Austin Wintory alongside the artists at GDC Nights has been an affirming experience and helps reinforce the value of GDC’s mission to connect developers through their shared passion for game development,” said Stephenie Hawkins, GDC Event Director, in a statement. “The past few years have seen increasing challenges for game developers the world over, but we’re proud to see GDC continue to serve as a beacon. We look forward to seeing our friends here again, and hope that the connections and insights they gained will carry through to their next amazing game projects.”
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 Astro Bot, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Like a Dragon, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Split Fiction, Helldivers 2, Silent Hill 2, Monument Valley 3, Tekken 8 and many more.
During GDC, there were several major announcements and reveals, including the formation of the first North American industry-wide union of video game workers, the United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433. Qualcomm made waves with the reveal of their Pocket S2, a new Android-based handheld gaming device that will be powered by the Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chipset and Roblox announced the launch of its new open-source model called Cube.
The GDC Main Stage featured a pair of presentations that helped celebrate games and bring the joy of the art to even more people around the world. On Wednesday, composer Austin Wintory (Stray Gods, Journey, Banner Saga Series) conducted a wholly new musical performance known as “GDC Main Stage: A Developer’s Concert” following the success of the performance’s debut during GDC 2024.
The hourlong concert was performed by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and featured lush orchestrations that spanned decades of beloved game scores including works by Wilbert Roget, II, Darren Korb and others. On Thursday, the GDC Main Stage hosted the unveiling of ESA’s landmark Accessible Games Initiative, a cross-industry effort to provide consumers with clear information about the accessibility features available in video games. The initiative (www.accessiblegames.com) is fully supported by founding members Electronic Arts, Google, Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Ubisoft.
GDC 2025 honored the top developers of the past year with the 27th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards and the 25th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA). At the IGF Awards on Wednesday night, the independent game Consume Me won the Seumas McNally Grand and The Nuovo Award, which honors experiences that make both players and the awards jurors think differently about gaming as a medium. At the Game Developers Choice Awards Balatro was awarded the highly-coveted Game of the Year award, as well as Best Debut, Best Design and the Innovation Award. Astro Bot, developed by PlayStation Studios Team ASOBI and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, also claimed high honors at the show, winning the Best Audio and Best Technology Awards.
Building off of its introduction in 2024, GDC continued to expand upon its Travel Together program to help attendees form networking walking groups between multiple hotel locations throughout San Francisco and the Moscone Center; a 24-hour GDC Safety phone line (+1 925-852-4361) that is available 24/7 throughout the event; the Game History Gallery that showcased games from marginalized developers as well as tips on how to preserve games.
GDC also 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.
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