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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.