Informa Tech today launched the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2021, the 35th edition of the world’s largest and longest-running event for professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games. GDC 2021 is the most accessible GDC yet and is designed from top to bottom to take advantage of the virtual platform, offering a week of lectures, tutorials, roundtable discussions and more. The virtual conference offers a bevy of live sessions including fireside chats, Q&As and podcasts, featuring top names in the video game industry.

In addition to kicking off GDC 2021, a conference built from the ground up to take advantage of being a virtual conference, Informa Tech announced that GDC 2022 will return as a physical conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from March 21 - 25, 2022. Submissions to present lectures, roundtables and panels for the Core Concepts section of GDC 2022, spanning Wednesday through Friday of GDC week, will be accepted August 3 – 31, 2021. Those interested in GDC 2022 can join the GDC newsletter to be kept up to date on the latest developments.

Beginning today, GDC 2021 will feature expert talks in diverse tracks of game development topics, such as design, business and marketing, visual arts and game narrative, classic games postmortems led by the developers of the classics, Quake and Star Wars Galaxy, opportunities for game career development and much more. The conference will host the multipart presentation “The Developer’s Impact” delivered by esteemed game creators Lyndsay Pearson (Executive Producer & GM, 'The Sims', Maxis), Ziba Scott (Optimist, Popcannibal) and Osama Dorias (Lead Game Designer, Warner Brothers Games Montreal).

GDC 2021 will host the 21st annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs), the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry’s top games and developers, and the 23rd annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards, which honor the most promising developers and projects from the world of independent video games. Both will take place back-to-back on Wednesday, July 21 beginning at 4:30pm PT. The GDCA ceremony will also present the special honors of the Pioneer Award to Tom Fulp, creator of Newgrounds and the Lifetime Achievement Award to Laralyn McWilliams for her influence as a game designer during the past 28 years.

The conference will also introduce the inaugural Game Maker's Sketchbook Gallery, a new annual arts showcase to promote and honor a broad spectrum of art by specific artists in video games cofounded by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS), creative production company iam8bit, and communications firm, fortyseven (47).

“We are thrilled to be launching the most robust virtual GDC event to date, which offers a huge amount of unique content from across the industry and benefits from our learnings from the past more than a year of digital GDC events,” said Katie Stern who oversees the GDC as VP of Entertainment Media at Informa Tech. “We also absolutely look forward to the return of GDC 2022 to San Francisco next year and for the opportunity to see this vibrant community together again in person.”

Those that are interested in experiencing GDC 2021 can still register to attend now from home, throughout the end of the conference at the official GDC website. More information about GDC 2022 will be made available as the conference approaches.

For more details on the Game Developers Conference, please visit the GDC’s official website, or subscribe to regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, or RSS. Official photos are available via the Official GDC Flickr account: www.flickr.com/photos/officialgdc/.