GDC San Francisco is a recent, at least in the distant normal past, to be held in person. One major difference this time (besides the first unmasked gathering), gaming was not as big Pre Covid19 as it is Post Covid.

Here are some of the major changes that have happened in Gaming since 2020

The New Role of Gaming

Gaming was a valuable lifeline for many people over the last 2 years. With much of the world forced to stay inside due to the pandemic, people were looking for ways to both entertain themselves and maintain their social connections. As a result, gaming has evolved from the stereotyped hardcore + unsociable bedroom player to a family connecting intense social medium experiment that it is now. It has even found its way to classrooms. Yes, games have new roles at school – teaching.

Gaming, a highly lucrative industry?

Gaming is arguably the largest and most expansive entertainment industry. It has become a dominant entertainment medium for pretty much every demographic. To put into context, Movies made around $21.4 billion in 2021. Gaming did $173 billion and expected to do $223 billion in 2022. In our small world of Reward Video Ads, we have witnessed the how advertisers are aggressively taking gaming inventory, especially Rewarded Video Ads. The CPM for Reward Video Ads has gone up by 30% since 2021 and no signs of slowing down.

So, what should we expect to see in GDC San Francisco in 2022?

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is among the various events that bring the game development community together to exchange ideas, talk future, educate, inspire, and network.

Some key features of GDC include:

• A comprehensive selection of lectures, panels, and roundtable discussions.
• Showcases of latest game development tools and services from leading technologies.
• Dedicated community spaces to network + play + exchange ideas + Inspire.

The whole meeting is composed of 4 events, but am putting my few picks (if you are tight on time)

1. Free-to-Play Summit: The F2P Game Design Challenge

Creating a free-to-play game with high quality graphics requires new ways of creating content. The talks will show the creative process finding and refining the IP showing behind the scenes look on concept art, style guides, mood videos and early footage.

https://schedule.gdconf.com/filter-type/topic/free-to-play

2. Independent Games

Hear from the best and brightest indie game creators representing diverse voices, experiences and perspectives, including many IGF finalists and winners.

https://schedule.gdconf.com/filter-type/topic/independent-games

3. Classic Games Postmortem

Lecture notes from creators of some of the most innovative games developers – lessons learned by the makers of these landmark game titles and find inspiration in understanding what it took to bring these games to life.