The COVID-19 pandemic has caused – and is still causing – the cancelation of dozens of gaming events. Esports, conferences, and conventions have all been shut down in an effort to halt the spread of the virus and allow fight the pandemic.
One of the earliest events to be affected was the Game Developers Conference, or GDC 2020. The original physical event was canceled, leading the organizers to move the entirety of the presentation online instead.
We just recently saw the conclusion of GDC 2020, including the awards given out for the Independent Games Festival (Congratulations, A Short Hike!) However, there was a good deal of the event that couldn’t be transferred to the online format, as well as the huge amount of interactive events that had to be taken away.
In an attempt to bring it all back to a whole version again, the organizers of GDC 2020, Informa Tech, have decided to hold another smaller, shorter version of GDC. This new event will be called GDC Summer and will take place in early August, between the 4th and the 6th.
“GDC Summer will be a unique Game Developers Conference experience but will retain the same high level of expert-led talks as the traditional GDC, along with a freestyle two-day expo show floor August 5th and 6th,” Informa Tech explained in their announcement.
While it’ll be shorter and smaller, the event will still hold the same magic of the original GDC 2020. Frankly, if you pair GDC Summer with the online features of GDC 2020, then you’ll still have an excellent conference that an audience can greatly enjoy.
This new conference will be held in California at the Moscone Center of San Francisco, and while it’ll be smaller physically, the organizers believe this could be a boon. Informa Tech is hoping to be able to host meetings, reviews, and local gatherings to help compliment the event itself.
“Safety remains the GDC Organizers’ paramount concern and the GDC team will continue to monitor the latest information from health officials to ensure a safe and compelling event for everyone at GDC Summer, GDC 20201, and beyond,” Informa Tech said.
Thankfully, the move to online still allowed a great amount of the event to take place as originally intended. The addition of GDC Summer could likely complement the handful of shortcomings that the online format had, and could even end up becoming a new way for the organizers to hold the event.
It’s worth saying, however, that we still have no clue what the future holds. There’s no guarantee that an event in August will be safe to hold, so don’t get your hopes too high.