The 2026 Game Developers Conference recorded a significant drop in attendance, losing approximately a third of its visitors. Industry watchers have cited several Trump administration policies among the key reasons for the downward trend, while noting that this year's GDC was also burdened by some organizational decisions.
The decline was not unexpected, having been projected ahead of the latest edition of the conference, which took place in San Francisco from March 9 to 13. In the weeks leading up to the event, multiple developers said they were skipping GDC 2026 over safety concerns stemming from ICE activity in the United States and other U.S. immigration policies that they described as hostile to international visitors.
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Overall, GDC 2026 hosted approximately 20,000 attendees, as recently revealed by organizer Informa PLC. The figure marks a 33% drop compared to the 2024 and 2025 editions of the San Francisco event, both of which drew nearly 30,000 people, according to official post-show summaries and local reporting. Informa also said the 2026 event featured more than 700 sessions, 1,100 speakers, over 300 exhibitors,...
