The Game Developers Conference 2025 will feature more than 700 or so speaker sessions and could draw as many as 30,000 attendees, according to the organizers at Informs.

GDC’s expo passes are selling at a better rate, with double-digit increases for expo floor ticket sales, said Stephenie Hawkins, event director at Informa for GDC, in an interview with GamesBeat. GDC isn’t forecasting a particular number, but last year’s total hit around 30,000.

This year, there are more people opting for an all-access pass, and many of the expo-floor-only passes are selling at the last minute.

There will be a big awards show — the Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice Awards — on Wednesday evening March 19. At the awards event, All Access pass holders will get priority seating close to the stage.

GDC Nights

One of the highlights this year is on the social side, as the organizers are introducing GDC Nights, an after-hours experience designed to bring the game development community together for two evenings in a safe format, said Hawkins. (In the past, bad behavior at offsite side events prompted GDC to do this). Attendees can get tickets just for the evening networking events if they wish.

“Safety is definitely our priority for our attendees,” Hawki...