GDC Festival of Gaming has announced changes to its 2027 event, including a new Business Hall at Moscone West.
GDC VP of content strategy Mark DeLoura tells GamesIndustry.biz that the Business Hall is “purpose-built for meetings and relationship-building” and “complements the Festival Hall where attendees can discover tools and technology, play demos, watch showcases and connect across the wider GDC community.”
DeLoura notes that the Business Hall will occupy the space previously used for Speed Networking in 2026, which will now move to the Festival Hall. “That gave us the opportunity to rethink the larger space in Moscone West and build something much more substantial around one of the biggest behaviors we see at GDC: people coming together to meet and do business.”
“Thousands of people come to San Francisco during GDC week with calendars full of meetings, but historically many of those conversations have happened in hotel lobbies, coffee shops, suites and other spaces around the city. The Business Hall gives that part of GDC week a dedicated home at Moscone, whether you’re an indie meeting with a publisher, a start-up talking to investors, or an executive meeting with partners.
The Business Hall Only pass costs $99, which DeLoura describes as “intentionally accessible and aimed at a broad part of the industry.”
“We know there are people who come to GDC primarily for meetings and haven’t felt that the GDC passes available made sense for them. The Business Hall Only Pass gives people whose participation is centred primarily around those meetings an accessible way into the official GDC campus.”
New passes
The Business Hall Only pass is one of three new options, along with Festival Hall Only ($149) and 1-Day Career ($99). Attendees can combine these passes to create a schedule that fits their goals.
In 2027, two dedicated passes for Indie and Start-Up participants will be introduced, each costing $299 and featuring separate entry requirements. Previously, indie developers and start-ups shared a single Early Stage Indie & Start-Up pass.
GDC intends for the $499 Festival Pass to offer the “complete core GDC experience,” providing full access to program sessions, Festival Hall, Business Hall, and GDC Nights. Additional passes include Game Changer ($1,149), GDC Vault Subscription ($649), and Academic ($299).
DeLoura says the Game Changer pass will “continue to be [the] premium GDC experience, including dedicated benefits such as the Game Changer Lounge and other elevated access and experiences.”
The Luminaries Speaker Series used to be a Game Changer perk, but has now “evolved into a conference track available to all conference attendees.”
“We felt some of those conversations were simply too valuable and relevant to the broader industry to restrict them to one pass type”
“We felt some of those conversations were simply too valuable and relevant to the broader industry to restrict them to one pass type. Broadly, we don’t want great sessions behind a premium tier; we want to offer Game Changers an enhanced way to experience and navigate GDC.”
The GDC Summit Program will also be improved “to give the community a greater voice in shaping the talks that make the program” and will be organized around the principle of “one discipline, one room.”
As for the Digital Pass, it’s been withdrawn “as a bundled product for 2027,” DeLoura confirms.
“When we looked at how people were using it, the primary value people were looking for was access to GDC Vault. For 2027, we’ve therefore made Vault available directly as its own subscription/add-on, giving people a simpler way to access GDC sessions on demand throughout the year. That gives people a much clearer offering: if what you want is access to GDC sessions on demand, you can simply buy Vault. It’s part of the broader effort to make our products clearer and give people more choice around how they engage with GDC.”
DeLoura states that the goal for GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 is increased flexibility, which “came directly from industry feedback.”
“In 2026, we deliberately simplified the pass structure, but what we heard afterward was that some people wanted more focused and affordable ways to participate depending on why they were coming. So for 2027, we’ve kept the broader Festival and Game Changer experiences, while adding more targeted options.”
“Someone coming primarily for meetings can choose Business Hall Only; someone who wants to discover tools, play demos, and watch showcases can choose Festival Hall Only; and someone focused on career programming can attend Friday sessions with the 1-Day Career pass. We’ve also separated Indie and Start-Up into distinct passes so that established independent studios aren’t excluded because they’ve existed for more than five years. The goal is to give more people a way to be part of GDC, letting them choose the depth of experience that makes sense for them.
DeLoura adds: “We still very much believe in the value of the full GDC experience. However, these options recognise that not everyone comes to San Francisco for the same reason, needs the same experience, or has the same budget.”
Schedule changes
The overall schedule for next year’s GDC Festival of Gaming has also changed. Festival Hall will now open from Tuesday to Thursday, instead of Wednesday to Friday, and GDC Nights will run from Monday to Wednesday. Key events include the Developer’s Concert on Monday, the GDC Awards on Tuesday, and the Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday.
DeLoura clarifies that the decision to reduce community events from Monday to Thursday to Monday to Wednesday wasn’t because of attendance. “It was really about the rhythm of GDC week,” he says. “There are hundreds of community events, studio gatherings, dinners, meetups and parties happening throughout San Francisco all week.”
“Last year, moving the IGF Awards and GDC Awards to their own evenings was extremely well received, because each had room to become a bigger moment for its respective community. Giving the Developer’s Concert its own evening was another natural step, highlighting the great love our community has for the concert.
With the evening events already planned, we decided to keep one evening open for community and partner events to flourish.
Last September, GDC underwent a rebranding. DeLoura shared more details, such as reduced ticket prices for sessions and the expo floor (now known as the Festival Hall), along with a premium pass for executives and studio leaders.
“GDC 2027 aims to offer more options for participation, aligning with how the industry currently engages with the event.”
“We are constantly striving to improve how GDC serves the game industry, and community feedback plays a vital role in this process,” DeLoura explains.
“After introducing the Festival of Gaming and implementing significant changes to the GDC experience in 2026, it was crucial for us to listen carefully to what worked well, what could be improved, and how people wish to engage with GDC in the future. The industry is evolving, and the reasons for attending GDC are diverse: learning, securing funding, networking, making deals, recruitment, exploring new technology, reconnecting with peers, or a combination of these factors.”
“GDC 2027 is all about providing more options for participation, tailoring the week to better suit the current needs of the industry. The changes are aimed at enhancing accessibility, facilitating meaningful connections, and enabling attendees to achieve their goals at GDC.”
The GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 will be held from March 1 to March 5 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.