Reimagined GDC Festival of Gaming Opens Today for a Week of Discovery and Celebration in San Francisco

The 40th Edition of GDC Returns in and Around Moscone Center with Expansive Roster of Networking, Presentations and Activations for the Entire Game Industry Ecosystem

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The GDC Festival of Gaming, the world’s premier games industry event, begins today in and around the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Now in its 40th edition, GDC Festival of Gaming makes its debut as a boldly transformed event, designed to reflect the broader interconnected ecosystem of today’s games industry. The Festival brings together thousands of game-makers, publishers, distributors, investors, founders, technologists, toolmakers, marketers, educators, and media from around the globe for a week of connection, discovery, learning and celebration.

“GDC is transforming to meet games industry professionals where they are, and where they are headed. This year’s Festival expands what GDC can be, creating more ways for our community to participate, collaborate, and chart the future of our industry, together.” said Nina Brown, President of GDC. “GDC has always been and continues to be a special place where we meet to find the joy and inspiration of making games.”

The GDC Festival of Gaming kicks off a week of networking and programming, with a unified content program across five days of the event representing 700+ cross-disciplinary sessions that are available for all GDC passholders through the Festival Pass which replaces the former All-Access pass level, but at a heavily discounted rate. World-renowned developers will lead sessions on DEATH STRANDING 2, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Donkey Kong Bananza, Dispatch, Overwatch, Ghost of Yōtei and hundreds more.

The reimagined Festival Hall (formerly the Expo Floor) is open Wednesday through Friday and will be organized into five neighborhoods: Game Development, Future Tech, Indie & Education, International, Monetization & Player Engagement. Each neighborhood features its own stage for talks, spotlights and live interviews. The Hall will also feature the IGF Pavilion’s award-nominated indie game showcase, alt.ctrl.GDC’s experimental playground of imaginative controllers and maker-driven alternate control methods, and more. More than 300 exhibitors will be present on the Festival Hall floor, including industry leaders like Sony Interactive Entertainment, Microsoft Xbox, Tencent Games, Keywords Studios, Snail Games, Roblox, Snap Games, Discord, Reddit, Google Cloud, Meta, Servers.com, and NVIDIA. A new area this year is GDC Commons, which offers drop-in indie game sessions and live interviews with podcast recordings in a comfy seated area. Throughout Moscone Center, lounges, open seating areas and dedicated meeting spaces are designed to support the countless conversations, chance encounters and planned meetings that have long defined the GDC experience.

Aligned with the expanded focus for executive level networking and learning, the premium Game Changer Pass opens access to the GamePlan networking platform and multiple lounges available for 1:1 meetings to spark partnerships and deals, along with access to the Luminaries Speaker Series. This historic new series is hosted at the Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA on March 10-12 and offers the most impactful leadership offering that GDC has ever created, with leading-edge programming designed for senior leaders, investors, marketers, studio heads, publishing executives, and influential decision-makers. This series will address topics like AI, investment, global expansion and transmedia opportunities presented by speakers from NVIDIA, Google DeepMind, Universal Music Group, SEGA, Mattel, Blizzard and more.

New to 2026, the News & Demo Stage at YBCA will feature briefings given by industry leaders Google Play, Razer, Marvel Games and Snail Games. These companies will brief registered GDC press and creators on new games, new platform developments and major announcements.

GDC Festival of Gaming’s expansive offerings extend beyond the hours of the conference with content in and around San Francisco, including:

• Monday, March 9 at 6:00pm – Opening Night at the Ballpark which invites all attendees to Oracle Park for game trailers, tabletop games, community activities, tasty ballpark concessions and a screening of Edgar Wright’s beloved gaming inspired film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
• Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30pm – Acclaimed composer Austin Wintory and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music will be returning to GDC to perform the 3rd Annual Developer’s Concert, celebrating the craft of game audio with masterful performances, special guests and a few surprises.
• Wednesday, March 11 at 6:30pm – The 28th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards recognizing the most influential, innovative and acclaimed indie game devs around the world.
• Thursday, March 12 at 6:30pm – The 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA). The GDCAs are decided upon by other developers in the community, and honors the dedicated artistry and craft behind the year’s best titles including this year’s Game of the Year nominees: Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Donkey Kong Bananza, Ghost of Yōtei, Hollow Knight: Silksong and Split Fiction.

The Opening Night at the Ballpark, Developer’s Concert, IGF Awards and GDCA ceremonies are available to attend for all GDC passholders, with the concert and the awards also live-streamed and archived on both the official GDC Festival of Gaming Twitch channel and GDC YouTube channel.

Marking its grand return to GDC is the Keynote Address, delivered this year by influential game developer Rob Pardo, who designed iconic strategy and RPG titles, including StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos, and Diablo III. Titled “An Odyssey in Building Games That Last,” Rob Pardo will guide attendees through his team’s journey creating Bonfire Studio’s debut title Arkheron as a true “Forever Game,” an enduring title that offers depth, fun and replayability for players to love and return to again and again. Rob Pardo will present the keynote on the GDC Main Stage in North Hall on Thursday, March 12, at 9:00am.

“GDC Festival of Gaming is home to everyone who engages in the massive and miraculous undertaking of shipping a game,” said Mark DeLoura, GDC’s Executive Director of Innovation and Growth. “The Festival is here for all professionals in the games world to meet and form the connections that lead to the next innovations in games. We’re excited to kick off the week by welcoming new friends and established colleagues back to GDC!”

For more information on GDC Festival of Gaming, please visit the official website, or subscribe to regular updates via LinkedIn, Facebook, X or BlueSky. Official photos are available via the GDC Flickr account.

About GDC Festival of Gaming

GDC Festival of Gaming is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision makers and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game industry community year-round through events and digital media, including GDC Vault, GameDeveloper.com, Independent Games Festival, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and one of the leading B2B Events organizers in the world. To learn more and for the latest news and information visit www.informa.com.

Contacts

fortyseven communications

Hiro Ito

gdcpress@fortyseven.com