The Game Developers Conference in San Francisco has been a career-making event for decades. But with costs to visit rising and the ability to meet online growing, does it need to change?
It’s Game Developers Conference week, which means one of two things for those working in the industry: either they’re jetlagged in some hotel bar in San Francisco spending $10 a beer; or they’re at home, avoiding Twitter to lessen the Fomo. GDC has long been the nexus of the games industry, a place where indie developers get their games signed and funded, coders and artists and sound designers share the techniques of their craft, and juicy development stories are overheard in the convention centre’s corridors.
But GDC has long been regarded by some as increasingly elitist. To its credit, it partners with plenty of different organisations to offer scholarships and sponsorships to underrepresented devs, but a regular ticket costs $1,521, and an all-access pass is $2,204. Then there’s the cost of attending, which is even more prohibitive thanks to San Francisco’s ever-rising prices. Some developers who previously attended GDC every year now say they can’t justify the expense.
