Is it worth being at GDC
2013? 2 months left till the biggest game developers conference in San
Francisco and many game devs are still asking themselves this
question. Even the ones who have already bought passes.
The game developers who
haven't been to the event yet may not know about all the benefits of
being there. This is why we wanted to share with you our personal
experience of being there before and point out the top 6 reasons to
be at GDC 2013 (according to us). So if you find yourself benefiting
from any of them then you should definitely go and meet us there
together with more than 22 500 geeks passionate about making games.
Networking
GDC is probably the best
place to meet people from the game industry. If you're new in the business this is your chance to get to know people. It's not rare for
game development companies to find publishers or investors or for
students to find a way to break into the industry. Veterans find
it also very useful to network with other attendants. You never know which
contact will be of use for you so this is why you should try to meet
as many people as possible. If you're lucky you might even get
invited to private parties and special events.
Getting coverage
Many game developers manage
to meet bloggers or journalists at GDC and find a way to intrigue
them about their projects. As a result they not only get coverage but
manage to build long-lasting relationships with key people from the Media.
Learning
GDC is also your key opportunity to
learn about the newest technology from the biggest players in the
industry. This includes AAA developers like Activision Blizzard and
BioWare talking about their latest and most successful projects. So
far the organizers has revealed talks about Assassin's Creed III,
SSX, Dead Space 3, Diablo III , Hitman: Absolution, Mass Effect 3,
The Walking Dead and many more.
There is also a big focus on indie game
development. If you're into free to play gaming, you might find it useful to listen to what Zynga is going to say about it. One of the talks we are looking
forward to the most is the one of Valve about Virtual Reality and its
future implementation into gaming.
Inspiration
Meeting, talking and
learning from so many people from the game industry will definitely
inspire and motivate you to build better games and software in general. You will
get so many new ideas you could implement instantly into your project
that it will be probably best to write them down on
spot. Otherwise you might forget and lose great opportunities.
Rethinking your
business model
GDC will help you to rethink
your business model as well. You will learn more about current and
new platforms and how to use them for your game. You will also have
the chance to learn about new ways to monetize your game or software and better ways to promote it among your target audience.
Hiring talent
The people that are willing
to go to GDC are really serious about their career. So if you're looking
for talent this might be the best place to find it. Keep in mind that
if you're still not a well-known company it will be probably harder
for you to attract potential employees, so you will really
need to show them the benefits of working with you.
If you believe you might
benefit from any of these points, it might be a good idea to get a pass for the conference and to use this opportunity.
If you decide to go
or already have, we invite you to visit us there at booth #241 (near the IGF booth).
You might as well
request a meeting in advance since we don't know
yet how busy our schedule will be. In all cases, we'd love to
meet you there and learn more about your projects.
