GDC Festival of Gaming 2027
by Game Developers Conference (GDC) / Informa Tech
Five days of sessions, Summits and business meetings for the game industry, including a dedicated AI Summit.
About This Event
GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 is the annual Game Developers Conference, held March 1-5, 2027 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The program runs more than 700 sessions, workshops and Summits, with discipline Summits in AI, Audio, Business & Marketing, Independent Games, Production & Team Leadership, Programming and Visual Arts. One of the six 2027 topic areas, 'Creating More with Smarter Tools & Workflows', covers using AI and modern production workflows to do more with less. New for 2027 is a Business Hall in Moscone West, open Monday to Friday, with reservable meeting tables for partnerships and pitches. The Festival Hall expo runs Tuesday to Thursday, and Friday is a career day built around the Career Faire. Evenings bring GDC Nights: the Developer's Concert, the GDC Awards and the IGF Awards.
Key Dates & Deadlines
- Early-bird registration
At a Glance
- Date
- March 1–5, 2027
- Location
- Moscone Center, San Francisco, California
- Format
- In-Person
- Event Type
- Conference
- Status
- Upcoming
- Pricing
- Paid
- Organizer
- Game Developers Conference (GDC) / Informa Tech
- Added
- Oct 17, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 17, 2026
Topics & Focus Areas
Who Should Attend
- ✓Game studio executives and CTOs
- ✓Engineering and technical directors
- ✓AI and machine learning engineers in games
- ✓Producers and production leads
- ✓Publishers, investors and business development leads
- ✓Tool and middleware providers
Why Attend
GDC is where you see how game studios, the earliest large-scale adopters of generative tools for art, code and testing, actually run AI in production, and what their teams push back on. A CTO or head of AI at a studio, engine vendor or interactive-media company can use the AI Summit and the programming tracks to benchmark pipelines against peers, then use the Business Hall's reservable tables to meet publishers, tool vendors and investors across five days. If you sell AI tooling into creative teams, this is the room where those teams decide what to buy.
Event Features
- ✓AI Summit
- ✓Programming Summit and Production & Team Leadership Summit
- ✓2027 topic area: Creating More with Smarter Tools & Workflows (AI and production workflows)
- ✓Business Hall at Moscone West (Mon-Fri) with reservable meeting tables and private rooms
- ✓Festival Hall expo (Tue-Thu)
- ✓GDC Nights: Developer's Concert, GDC Awards and IGF Awards
- ✓Friday Career Faire and career sessions
- ✓GDC Vault on-demand session archive
What Makes This Unique
- ★The largest annual professional gathering for game developers, with 700+ sessions, workshops and Summits.
- ★A dedicated AI Summit in a 'one discipline, one room' format, plus a 2027 topic area on AI tooling and workflows.
- ★Oversubscribed Summits are partly programmed by public vote, then curated by a GDC producer.
- ★A new Monday-to-Friday Business Hall at Moscone West built for meetings, pitches and partnerships, separate from the expo floor.
Industries Represented
Pricing Details
2027 Early Rate, available through December 11, 2026 at 11:59pm PT: Festival pass $549 (full program, Festival Hall, GDC Nights, Business Hall with guest meeting passes, Friday Career Faire); Game Changer $1,249 (adds lounge, daily lunch, reserved keynote and GDC Nights seating, one-year GDC Vault); Indie or Start-Up $299 (application-based); Academic $299; Festival Hall Only $175; Business Hall Only $125; 1-Day Career (Friday) $125; GDC Vault subscription $649. Groups of 10+ get 10% off Festival or Game Changer passes.
Organizer
Game Developers Conference (GDC) / Informa Tech
gdconf.com/Frequently Asked
- When is GDC Festival of Gaming 2027?
- GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 takes place March 1–5, 2027 in San Francisco, California.
- Where is GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 held?
- GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 is held in San Francisco, California. The event format is in-person.
- What is the GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 submission deadline?
- The next GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 deadline is early-bird registration on Dec 11, 2026.
- How much does GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 cost?
- GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 is paid. 2027 Early Rate, available through December 11, 2026 at 11:59pm PT: Festival pass $549 (full program, Festival Hall, GDC Nights, Business Hall with guest meeting passes, Friday Career Faire); Game Changer $1,249 (adds lounge, daily lunch, reserved keynote and GDC Nights seating, one-year GDC Vault); Indie or Start-Up $299 (application-based); Academic $299; Festival Hall Only $175; Business Hall Only $125; 1-Day Career (Friday) $125; GDC Vault subscription $649. Groups of 10+ get 10% off Festival or Game Changer passes.
- Who should attend GDC Festival of Gaming 2027?
- GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 is aimed at Game studio executives and CTOs, Engineering and technical directors, AI and machine learning engineers in games, Producers and production leads, Publishers, investors and business development leads, Tool and middleware providers.
- What topics does GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 cover?
- GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 covers AI in game development, AI-assisted production workflows, Game programming and engine technology, Production and team leadership, Game business, funding and publishing, Visual arts and audio, Independent games.
Sources
This page was written from 4 sources, 2 on domains other than gdconf.com.
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