The organisers of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Festival of Gaming are not unduly phased about the 30% drop in attendance the event witnessed in 2026.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the event’s VP of content strategy, Mark DeLoura, says that while there was a decline in the number of people at the show, he still feels that the conference is hugely valuable to the games industry.
“We always want the event to be as valuable as possible to as many people as possible,” he says.
“There were still 20,000 game developers there, which was amazing. It’s the biggest show for developers worldwide. Attendance was down, and that was clear to people there, but I heard people were having more substantial conversations, which was interesting. We’re definitely going to try to grow the event. Our job is to make it the best possible event for as many people as we can. That’s why we’re making changes to try to make it more appealing. So, I suppose it is a concern, but only because there are many more game developers out there, and we need to help them, especially right now. It’s our job.”
GDC 2027 is undergoing some changes; the organisers have already announced that the event is being reduced to four days rather than five, “something that has been much requested,” DeLoura says.
There is also going to be a new Business Hall space; DeLoura admits that a great deal of networking and business happens in the hotels and other spaces around the Moschone Centre venue, but he says that it is “incumbent” on GDC to provide an environment for these conversations to happen on-site.
“The game industry is a tough place. If we can find ways to matchmake, find ways to help people find funding, take meetings, all that sort of thing, that is our goal,” he explained. “So we are going to dedicate a really large area of the show to what we call the Business Hall, and part of that will just be empty tables, meeting pods that are bookable, a big game changer lounge for executives, and lots of casual space to just hang out and take meetings. It is really the core of it.”
DeLoura also says that the Business Hall is about making the event as “accessible” as possible. Passes for this section cost $125, while a Festival Hall Only pass will set attendees back $175. Academic, Indie or Startup passes are now $299, with Festival passes costing $549, down from $649. The Game Changer tier is now $1,249, a reduction from 2026’s $1,699.
Another change for the 2027 edition of the show is that, in addition to the usual discipline-based tracks, there are new types of talks. The first is Hot Topic, which will focus on areas like generative AI and user-generated content. Then, as part of the pre-existing day-long GDC Summits, are the new Emerging Summits, which will also discuss new topics and change every year.
“We are just trying to be very aware of what is going on in the industry and make sure we give developers information on what is happening right now and call it out to them so it is easy for them to find,” DeLoura says. “That is really the goal.”