Imagine a world without GDC
Game Conference Guide Insights - March 2026
In this month’s issue:
Yet, another hot take on GDC from a very different perspective
Barcelona is calling! Are you ready?
Check out featured events happening in April with discounts
Watch out for upcoming showcases and deadlines for submissions
Day before the kick off of the GDC week a photo was circulating around social media condemning the predatory overtake of Yerba Buena Gardens, one of the agoras where developers naturally congregate each year to hang out, exchange ideas, sit down for meetings, or just listen to others while making friends and trying not to be awkward. It is a safe space for everyone to interact, exchange sweets and have fun. And if the weather is nice, everyone is having lunch outside occupying every inch of the park.
The aforementioned photo captured a fenced tiny festival city with food tents in the middle of the park with GDC branding. It lacked the much needed context though, but it spread around and the organizers tried to mitigate the outcry by saying: it is open for everyone. Which was true. Partially.
The tent city was open for 3 hours and it offered everyone an opportunity to buy food and have a picnic in the park. Outside of the lunch hours (11AM - 2PM), it was fenced and empty. Like a testament from the organizers to the games industry which occupied the outskirts of the park standing around, that we do not care and we do not listen.
The idea of having a picnic in the park was awesome, execution not so much. Same with the opening party at Oracle Stadium, home of San Francisco Giants. I am sorry, guys, but whose idea was this? On paper it might have sounded awesome for a few seconds; we will gather gamers and they will watch Scott Pilgrim on the big screen in the middle of the field. How cool is that? Well, not so much because the auditorium was almost empty.
Yerba Buena Park during this year’s GDC is a perfect metaphor for how big of an impact the conference has on the city. The space inside creates such a big gravity well that despite the rising tension on the global geopolitical scene, increased prices a lot of industry folks decided to travel, and they were orbiting around it while not carrying about what is going on inside (= ticketed activities). And it was not that great inside.
The park also sits on top of the North Hall of the Moscone Center, which was empty, apart from the main stage which hosted four sessions in total during the show (three of them evening awards and a concert)! It was supposed to be a place where Hideo Kojima should deliver a keynote speech. He cancelled.
PARTNER OF THE MONTH
Pocket Gamer Connects returns to Barcelona on 15th–16th June for its second outing in one of Europe’s fastest-growing games hubs. After a hugely successful debut in 2025, the event once again brings together over 1,000 games industry professionals for two days of focused networking, deal-making and insight.
More than 100 expert speakers across 17 conference tracks will share practical knowledge on topics ranging from monetisation and publishing to AI, cross-platform development, and the future of the industry.
But PGC Barcelona is about more than talks. With curated investor meetings, publisher matchmaking sessions, a Careers Zone, and the return of the Big Indie Pitch and huge indie expo showcase, the event is designed to help developers, publishers, and investors connect and get real business done.
Set in a city that has rapidly become a major centre for studios, talent and investment, PGC Barcelona offers a rare opportunity to build meaningful industry relationships while gaining insight into the trends shaping the global games market.
You may have noticed from multiple hot takes on social media that this year’s GDC was a mixed bag. From best conversations ever, to very honest hi-quality meetings in the nearby hotels that organizers don’t have any control over and they would like to have a piece of that pie, newcomers flocking to the west hall and basically creating traffic jams in the hallways while filling every single spot in the breakout rooms. You may have heard about how easy it was finding a seat on the mezzanine floor in Marriot Marquis, how great executive rooms were to participating companies, how the quality of the showfloor improved production wise while many companies were missing and they won’t be returning back, how disastrous and outrageously overpriced food was served, or how everyone wants GDC to move somewhere else. For every good idea and nice addition like the live acts during lunch break in the park, you could find a couple of not so great ones.
I am not here to repeat what was already reported. My GDC was great. I truly enjoyed it, it was productive, but before I move on and cover the clickbait headline, I have to return back to my report from last April where I encouraged everyone to follow the money.
If you think you know festivals, think again.
Festivals are one of the newest parts of the B2B events market: events that inspire and celebrate business by delivering unmissable experiences.
This out of touch quote is from the latest financial report (covering 2024 fiscal year) published by Informa, owner of GDC. The one for 2025 is expected to be released in the coming days.
The festival format is lauded in the report as the next step in evolving their B2B offering going beyond the borders of the conference halls, and having activation sprinkled around the city. I honestly do not know which executive was inspired by European art or music festivals, but this approach won’t work that well in a city like San Francisco with the crowd that GDC pulls in. Not without involving the public.
“The company has identified that as B2B events continue to grow and become more sophisticated, a new category of ‘experience-led’ events is emerging, which they call B2B Festivals,” explains Elysia, Informa’s AI chatbot while browsing through the report. Why are they doing it? To attract more people, and to offer the same in a new “trendy” packaging they can charge more for?
The discrepancy between what the GDC board is fighting for, what the industry under attack itself needs, what are the expectations of the business crowd and what the owners are trying to pull off is pretty huge. Informa has three years to make the festival work with GDC. The first year was trial by fire and it bombed, next one needs to deliver the vibes and show the format works, while the third should capitalize on the momentum and bring more people together.
Within the Festival vertical are other big events like Money 20/20, Cannes Lions, Black Hat, Finovate Europe and London Tech Week. Together they have generated £377 million in 2024, with 45% of the revenue coming from US events (GDC, Money 20/20 and Black Hat) and 40% from events in the EU. The rest are from the Middle East and Africa. Informa is not reporting the attendance levels nor revenue per individual event.
From the press releases you can learn, the events in the Festival vertical are flat lining when it comes to attendance, with Cannes Lion being the only exception seeing 20% increase in attracting more crowds (from 2024 to 2025). Black Hat on the other hand is reporting record breaking numbers while the attendance is dipping steadily from 2023.
The important thing here is the revenue, and in a few days when the new financial report will be released, we will see if it went up or not. GDC attendance fell by 30% this year, while the rest of the events are reporting the same numbers from 2024.
FEATURED EVENTS
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New for Cyprus 2026, the event will also feature interactive roundtable sessions for more candid, off-the-record discussions.
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Don’t miss Games Meets Music — a groundbreaking event that unites the games and music industries for a day of insight, collaboration and innovation!
Designed for developers, composers, publishers, and music professionals alike, this Games Meets Music gathering brings together thought leaders for fireside chats, panel discussions and real-world case studies on music’s role in games — from licensing and sync to creative collaboration and new revenue opportunities.
The festival part is forced, bolted on top of a conference which had issues even before Informa got involved. The organizers are facing impossible mission, as exhibitors are pulling out, business meetings are naturally not happening inside but in neighboring hotels and conference rooms filled to the last seat, newcomers and students are much welcome and needed crowd but from the business perspective they are not bringing enough revenue, indies and smaller developers are not going for the expensive ticket (do you miss $200 - $300 expo pass as well?), and even if the Informa has three years to pull this off, there is another blow that will come in early 2027.
Since the dates for GDC 2027 were pushed to the beginning of March (1 - 5th), there is only a week or two between DICE in Las Vegas. Business people will choose only one event to attend in the US, meaning less of them traveling to both events.
And as each year, there are rumors. This time voices are whispering about allowing the public to the show. It is a festival in the end, so why not? There is a big if, but if that happens, organizers are desperately trying to chase the winning model of gamescom, which broke E3 the neck. Hopefully those are just rumors.
I like the festival approach, I really do, and I do wish it could somehow work. San Francisco is living by GDC, and even before the organizers posted the official numbers, Julius, my Uber driver on the way to the airport, casually mentioned 25 - 30% decrease in the number of rides he and his buddies were getting around Moscone compared to the year prior. The city is feeling the dip in the attendance as well. In previous years it was unheard of to get a room in Marriott week before the GDC with lower rates than before.
GDC is bleeding the same as the industry. The events always reflect the state of the business and it seems there are ducktapes everywhere.
While a lot of you are asking where would be the best place to host GDC, or in which format, I am proposing a radical question. What would you do, if there is no GDC in March?
Really think about it.
Where would you go?
What would your calendar look like?
In which lobby you would be waiting for high fives or hangs? Gamescom is the obvious answer, but it happens only once per year (yes, there is gamescom Asia and gamescom LATAM). Without GDC there would be a massive hole in the calendar.
I am not here to defend GDC, the show made a massive impact on my career and it creates a lot of opportunities and serendipity. The question popped up pretty naturally when I sat down with Stephan Reichart while analyzing what we have experienced so far in San Francisco. His write up is worth reading and is spot on.
I do not have an answer. I do believe the organizers are under immense pressure to deliver, while turning the tanker and changing its course with the festival nature attached to it. It might take more than three years, and the trust of those already left is almost impossible to get back on board. And without the large companies, who will flock down to the showfloor to check games and have meetings?
We might see more aggressive monetization being introduced, more services offered to partnered companies, more sponsored sessions. GDC 2026 had 225 sponsored sessions (marked as presented by) out of 696 in total, a staggering 32%, one third, which is 33% increase compared to last year.
Let that number sink in.
🚀Upcoming Showcases to watch in March / April 2026
April 9 @ 9AM PT / 12PM ET / 6PM CET
April 16 @ 12PM PT / 3PM ET / 9PM CET
April 23 @ TBA
April 25 @ TBA
Get all details, dates, times & direct links to broadcasts here.
⏰Upcoming Deadlines on the horizon
📺Black Voices in Gaming Summer Games Fest
Deadline: March 30, Broadcast + Steam showcase, entry: FreeDeadline: March 31, On-site showcase, entry: €449 – €499 (After acceptance)
📽️Mifa Video Game Cinematic Works & Game Trailers Competition @ Annecy Festival
Deadline: March 31, Awards, entry: Free
📺South Asian Games Showcase
Deadline: March 31, Broadcast + Steam showcase, entry: freeDeadline: March 31, Awards + Steam showcase, entry: Free
Deadline: April 1, On-site showcase, entry: €350
Deadline: April 3, Awards, entry: free
📺India Games Showcase - Summer Game Fest
Deadline: April 10, Broadcast + Steam showcase, entry: free
Deadline: April 13, On-site showcase, entry: €0 – 3337 (After Acceptance)
Get all deadlines here.
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Pavol Buday, curator @ GCG