GDC 2026: News, previews, demos and trends

People from across the global games industry converge in San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference, now in its 37th year. This year the event goes by GDC Festival of Gaming and its focus has been shifted to reach a broader slice of the development community beyond C-suite executives and studio leaders, with more varied panels, discussions and events.

Key trends to watch at the show include the continued emergence of AI technology in game development, rising development and hardware costs, and a closer look at Microsoft’s next‑gen hardware, Project Helix. GDC Festival of Gaming runs from March 9–13. Watch this space for ongoing coverage of the event.

My favorite thing about attending GDC every year is being a fly on the wall as developers discuss the state of the industry; my second favorite is discovering exceptional indie games.

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