GDC 2026 POST-MORTEM

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Yes, GDC is expensive. Yes, San Francisco is a mess. Yes, the jet lag will destroy you in both directions.

The political climate is making travel genuinely difficult. Not to mention the collapse of US gaming jobs has hollowed out the conference floor. All of that is true, and none of it is the point.

The people who write off GDC are confusing the conference with the convention. GDC lives in the side events just as much as it thrives inside the Moscone Center.   One more thing.

  If you want to understand why Northern California is the place the world’s best tech entrepreneurs have called home at some point in their careers, cross the bridge. Take the ferry to Sausalito. Drive to Mill Valley or Palo Alto.

Hike in Muir Woods. Run along the edge of Golden Gate Park at sunrise. Take a day trip to Carmel, stay the weekend in Big Sur, or Napa Valley.

  If all you see during GDC is downtown San Francisco, you’re missing out on what makes NorCal the place that numerous great builders have called home at one point or anothe. THE MOOD: Cautious The word I kept coming back to was cautious, and underneath that, something closer to resigned. Not bitter, not defeated.

Just a broad acceptance that this is the market now, these are the conditions, let's figure out how to operate in them. There was plenty of performative optimism floating around in public settings, but one-on-one, it evaporated quickly. GDC attendence fell below 2012.

That’s the year when microtransactions were introduced in App Store. The conference itself felt smaller. Nearly a third fewer visitors compared to last year meant lighter lobbies, shorter queues, and meetings that actually started on time.

Some of that is the geopolitical reality. Some of it is the industry's own contraction. But the decision-makers were all there.

The rooms that mattered were all full. I don’t know any other conference that has a similar level of decision-maker concentration. ) Microsoft seems to be done with gaming.

Netflix wants to own the living room. This could be a match made in M&A heaven. Or not.

Everyone loves a good rumor from the GDC. So here’s one you’ll enjoy. Netflix could buy Xbox.

The logic? Netflix wants to own the living room, the Warner Bros. deal fell apart, leaving them with a chunk of change to spend, Microsoft seems to want to exit gaming , and the Azure infrastructure synergies make a creative deal structure possible.