The Game Developers Conference opens this week at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, and the gathering is expected to be the closest thing to normal since the pandemic.
The attendance is predicted to surpass 24,000, but it’s still below prepandemic levels, but Stephenie Hawkins, director of event production, points to the number of exhibitors and sessions as a healthier outlook.
“We have over 330 exhibitors and over 700 sessions,” she said. “A lot of our community partners are coming back this year.”
She also mentioned the return of events such as the Day of the Devs and the Independent Games Festival. GDC isn’t a trade show like E3 or an enthusiast event like PAX. It sits on the calendar as a gathering where game developers meet to learn tricks of the trade and establish connections.
“Career development is a big deal for us,” said Ashley Corrigan, senior conference producer. First-time attendees can quickly be overwhelmed by all the sessions and keynote speakers, so organizers have implemented attendee journey blogs that cover 30 different areas of the games industry.
Although GDC isn’t open to the public, video game news is often made from the sessions, where developers offer insight into the creation of titles. It’s also a place where new technology is often introduced. I’ve seen everything from force feedback vests to running treadmills ideally used for virtual reality.
A lot of ideas may never go mainstream, but once in a while an idea will break through such as PrimeSense, which showed off technology that eventually became the Kinect. The new technology drawing the most buzz has been artificial intelligence thanks to the success seen with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Corrigan said GDC the conference will have some content focused on AI. One panel will look at how industry experts see AI impacting the future of gaming in terms of design as well integrating AI into existing games. Another session will look at AI’s immediate impact in the real world with a focus on the relationship between generative AI and artists, she said.
It’s one of many topics that will be addressed at the conference, which has adapted to big changes over the past three years and has taken lessons from the pandemic to improve the event. For example, Corrigan said GDC has moved away from a hybrid format of virtual and in-person attendees. She said that splits the session’s attention, and now GDC 2023, which starts today and runs through Friday, focuses on the in-person experience.
