2026 Game Developers Conference recorded a significant decline in attendance, losing about a third of its visitors. Industry watchers have cited several Trump administration policies among the main reasons for the downward trend, while noting that this year's GDC was also weighed down by some organizational decisions.
The decline was not unexpected, having been projected before the last edition of the conference, which took place in San Francisco from March 9 to 13. In the weeks leading up to the event, several developers said they were skipping GDC 2026 due to security concerns stemming from ICE activity in the US and other US immigration policies they described as hostile to international visitors.
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GDC 2026 suffers 33% attendance drop
Overall, GDC 2026 hosted around 20,000 attendees, as recently revealed by organizer Informa PLC. The number marks a 33% drop from the 2024 and 2025 editions of the San Francisco event, which both 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, as well as attendees from over 85 countries. Compared to 2025, the number of speakers increased by 10%, while sessions and exhibitors decreased by approximately 7% and 25%, respectively.
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According to several industry observers, the lower voter turnout reflects a mix of political, economic and event-specific pressures. The San Francisco Chronicle linked the decline to widespread layoffs in the gaming industry and what it described as the Trump administration's hostility toward international visitors. Separately, PocketGamer.biz pointed to declining exhibitor attendance, the shrinking trade show floor and lingering concerns about the cost of attending the San Francisco-based trade show.
The Iran war has reportedly led to last-minute cancellations of GDC 2026
In addition to earlier concerns about ICE activity and US immigration policy, the ongoing Iran war also appears to have weighed on participation. Several last-minute keynote and attendee cancellations have been linked to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, as first reported by The Game Business. From a logistical point of view, the war also disrupted travel, leading to widespread flight cancellations, regional airspace closures and restrictions at major hubs including Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai. The disruption affected international travel corridors in the weeks leading up to GDC 2026.
Comparison between GDC 2026 and GDC 2025
|
GDC 2025 |
GDC 2026 |
Year change |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Participant |
30,000 |
20,000 |
-33% |
|
Speaker |
1,000 |
1,100 |
+10% |
|
Sessions |
750 |
700 |
-6.66% |
|
Exhibitor |
400 |
300 |
-25% |
The industry's weaker economic background also made the conference more vulnerable than in recent years. The GDC 2026 State of the Industry report found that a third of game developers surveyed had been laid off in the past two years, while attendees interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle said that traveling to California no longer made sense for many developers who were based far from the Bay Area, out of work, or both. A keynote speech from Metal Gear and Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, one of the highest-profile events on the original GDC 2026 schedule, was also canceled ahead of the conference. No reason was given for the cancellation, which was confirmed in early February.
Due to its smaller scale, GDC 2026 did not use the North Hall of the Moscone Convention Center for the first time in years. The official attendance figure of 20,000 means that this year's event was the smallest traditional show for years. GDC 2022 officially drew fewer attendees, but that was largely because it was a hybrid event, with 12,000 in-person attendees and 5,000 virtual attendees. The last traditional GDC with attendance in the 20,000 ballpark was the 2011 edition of the show, which drew more than 19,000 visitors.
Sources: Reuters, GDC / Informa PLC, GDC 2026 State of the Industry
