The annual GDC Game Developers Conference in San Francisco is a pilgrimage site for game developers worldwide. Sister Cathy has attended at least 10 times since 2007 and will go as scheduled in March 2026. Compared to the GDC2024 two years ago, which was filled with Web3 game exhibitors and speakers, this year it is startling to realize that Web3 games have almost faded from the mainstream gaming industry's view.
(1) Overview of GDC
1. GDC is the top technical conference and exhibition for the global game development industry, founded in 1988 in San Jose, near San Francisco, by game designer Chris Crawford. It has been held every March at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and during its peak in 2019, it attracted 29,000 developers from over 100 countries.
2. Besides showcasing game development tools, platforms, and services in the Expo area, the most valuable aspect of GDC is the 400+ lectures, roundtable discussions, and workshops covering programming, design, sound effects, production, business management, and visual arts, with top global game programmers, artists, producers, audio professionals, game designers, and business decision-makers sharing their skills and knowledge.
3. Sister Cathy worked on preparations for GDC's Shanghai branch from 2006 to 2008, serving as the sales manager for the first GDC China conference, responsible for sponsorship, speeches, and booth sales (this reveals my age; I should change my name to 'Aunt Cathy plays chain games').
Sister Cathy’s last attendance at GDC was in 2024.
Compared to two years ago, the changes at GDC are significant:
1. The exhibition area has shrunk by 2/3. The Expo area that used to span the south and north halls of the Moscone Center now only remains in the south hall, and after walking around a few times, it felt like one hall was not even fully filled.
2. A large amount of meeting content revolves around AI.
3. The game industry is entering an asymmetric growth phase; on one hand, large game companies like Tencent are experiencing rapid revenue growth, while on the other hand, major game companies in Europe and the US have frequently laid off employees since last year, even the most profitable Fortnite announced that its income could not cover expenses and began layoffs.
4. After talking with many clients during GDC, Sister Cathy sensed a lot of anxiety in the game production field. One client company's entire art outsourcing team was laid off, and an outsourcing manager responsible for art outsourcing felt that his job was insecure, predicting that more than half of the art team in the entire company was about to be laid off. A founder of a California game development company strictly controlled team size, not only halting new project approvals and new employee hiring but also gradually shifting old team members to remote and part-time status. After a round of discussions, Sister Cathy felt that the 2D game art outsourcing business could take a break.
5. Web3 games almost disappeared from GDC 2026, with only the South Korean CROSS/NEXUS as the remaining Web3 game exhibitor.
Compared to 2024, at GDC, there are existing Web3 game startups like Metacene showcasing, Avalanche's public chain presenting its ecosystem's Shrapnel chain games collectively, Solana/Sui renting an entire floor near the exhibition hall to hold their all-day side events, and South Korea's Wemade hanging large advertisements promoting their Night Crow and contributing several themed speeches on Web3 games. Nexon's adventure island, MapleStory Universe, is hosting a party in a restaurant next to the exhibition hall for promotion, while the Blockchain Game Alliance (BGA) is holding a breakfast meeting for chain games, and a16z is hosting their Speedrun incubator project demo selection during the 2024 GDC. Even PolkaDot held a seminar during this GDC... There are so many events that Sister Cathy’s registration for Web3 activities in 2024 cannot fit in a 3x3 grid.
(2) Web3 games at GDC 2026
Sister Cathy found only 5 activities related to Web3 games at GDC 2026, respectively:
1. NEXUS/CROSS, GDC exhibitors and speakers.
Sister Cathy visited the CROSS booth and chatted with Isaac Lee, the Head of AI & Blockchain. CROSS has a presentation at GDC about the future of NEXUS in the chain game sector, as well as the integration of AI and blockchain in gaming, especially with two AI-native games on the CROSS chain, MoltArena and MoltyRoyale.
However, I missed this presentation because I arrived in San Francisco quite late.
Topic: What business does NEXUS/CROSS, the only Web3 game exhibitor at San Francisco GDC 2026, engage in?
https://app.binance.com/uni-qr/cart/313677292108706?r=OZWSBAL5&l=en-US&uco=yfmo2YJVhAlcQBxd-JvVPw&uc=app_square_share_link&us=copylink
2. Immutable, holding a side event party during GDC. Sister Cathy went to the scene to try out their two showcased chain games, one is Ubisoft's Might & Magic Fates card game, and the other is called Goblins of Elderstone, a city-building and nurturing game. A streamer was live-streaming gameplay at the party.
3. Sui, holding a side event Happy Hour during GDC. Sister Cathy only arrived in San Francisco on the 11th, so she missed this event.
4. There was a roundtable discussion at GDC about the incentive systems of game trading economies that invited the well-known chain game Star Atlas on the Solana chain along with a few others to share. Sister Cathy attended, and there were very few attendees present. The organizers and the audience played a game on-site, and afterward, it felt like there was no valuable information shared.
5. The head of Web3 business for the traditional gaming payment giant Xsolla attended the conference, and I was fortunate to schedule a meeting to chat with her. In the next article, Sister Cathy will write in detail about Xsolla's Web3 business content and prospects.
6. Side note: When I was searching for events at GDC, I saw Off the Grid offering free lunches and drinks at the rest area in Yerba Buena Park next to GDC, thinking it was the chain game Off The Grid, and ran over but couldn't find it. Later I found out that Off the Grid is also a brand of a food truck market in San Francisco, and I probably misunderstood. I asked their investor, and the chain game Off the Grid should not have held any events at the San Francisco GDC; not only did they not hold events, but the developer Gunzilla Games also got into disputes during GDC due to unpaid wages to contract workers.
Others, searching for GDC registrants using keywords like blockchain, crypto, and Web3, only found a few established Web3 gaming giants in North America like WolveDao, Wemade, Sandbox, and several small developers who develop both traditional and Web3 games, as well as a few funds investing in Crypto like IVC.
Web3 games, apart from the above-mentioned companies, have truly faded from GDC!
#链游打金
