Image credit: GDC
The recent GDC Festival of Gaming experienced a 30% reduction in turnout, drawing 20,000 participants.
This is the fewest attendees since 2011, which saw 19,000 visitors at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. In 2022, after the COVID pandemic, GDC was held as a hybrid event with a total attendance of 17,000, including virtual participants, and approximately 12,000 in-person attendees.
In 2023, the conference attracted 28,000 visitors, and in 2024, numbers surged beyond 30,000, setting a record surpassed last year.
The fall in attendance this year is linked to concerns over the cost of attending and apprehensions among international delegates regarding U.S. immigration enforcement.
According to GamesIndustry.biz, some companies chose to focus their resources on different events like Develop Brighton and the Tokyo Game Show.
This iteration of the newly rebranded GDC Festival of Gaming featured over 700 sessions from 1,100 speakers and more than 300 exhibitors.
Nina Brown, President of GDC, expressed excitement about the attendance from over 85 nations, despite the event’s transformation. “This year represented a bold new approach for GDC,” she remarked, highlighting the industry’s unity and the potential for forming partnerships and learning opportunities amidst the vibrant gatherings.
Brown added, “This evolution stems from community feedback, and we are eager to keep listening, adapting, and advancing the GDC Festival of Gaming as we look towards the future.”
The GDC Festival of Gaming will make its return from March 1 to March 5 next year at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.