ERIC DONG

What is GDC?

Game Developers Conference (GDC) is held every year in San Francisco (February 27 — March 3, 2017; Monday – Friday) for five days of sessions, tutorials, bootcamps, and roundtable discussions for industry developers and to the public.

GDC is the one of the largest professionals-only industry event dedicated to the creation of games, including computer, console, mobile, tablet, smartphone and online games. This annual event offers five full days of sessions covering many disciplines, including Advocacy, Design, Programming, Production, Visual Arts, Monetization, Audio and Business, Marketing & Management.

Staying on top of the latest game development technologies and tools by visiting the Expo Floor, special events and peer-to-peer networking opportunities. In addition, the Career Center, GDC Play, Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice and IGF Awards provide a well-rounded experience for game development professionals and those interested in the games industry.

Expand industry knowledge – This market defining conference features over 500 sessions across targeted tracks and focused summits on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by industry leading experts.

Learn new skills – GDC features variety of Tutorials and Bootcamps to choose from taking place over two full days and providing deep-dive focus on each topic.

Meeting game development professionals – GDC attracts over 27,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry.

This years trends and outlook at GDC…

VR

A whole sub-conference within a conference, titled VRDC@GDC, is dedicated to VR.  It’s goal is to teach how to create amazing, immersive VR and AR experiences for games as well as entertainment of all kinds–including films, travel, retail, fitness, product design, journalism, and sports entertainment.

Demo new technologies and gain insight into best practices to create amazing, immersive virtual and augmented reality experiences for both games and non-game entertainment.

Late 2016, VR was all the rage with various companies quickly announcing releases of the new device.

But VR is not growing fast enough it seems, with Facebook is lowering the Oculus Rift headset and Touch controller bundle, which now sells for $598, down from the previous $798 price tag just six months ago.  

VR the future?

The VRDC program is sold out.  It is a indication that companies, as well as the indie game movement, is betting heavily on Virtual Reality being the future.  Big bets are being made by so many companies.  Facebook, Windows, Google, to just name a few, and the list grows.  With so much investment and capital directed into this new market, it seems more a matter of when it will become ubiquitous rather than if.