GDC Attendee Demographics

GDC 2013
March 25-29, 2013
Expo Dates: March 27-29
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, CA


By The Numbers*:

  • Over 22,500 attendees
  • 22% of attendees were international
  • Featuring more than 400 lectures, panels, tutorials and roundtable discussions
  • More than 300 exhibitors and sponsors

All GDC 2012 attendees work in the game industry either in game development services or related fields*:

"GDC is where we go to get real business done"

-Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games
  • 35.0% Programming/Engineering
  • 30.1% Game Design
  • 26.5% Other
  • 26.0% Business Management
  • 23.0% Production
  • 21.8% Visual Arts
  •   8.1% Audio

Other includes students, educators, press/media, and other job functions

Major/Minor focus of GDC 2012 conference attendee's business:*

     Major Focus Minor Focus
   Console game market 37% 21%
   Downloadable game market (XBLA, PSN, WiiWare) 28% 31%
   Handheld console market 22% 28%
   Social network game market 28% 35%
   Web browser game market 30% 32%
   Web-based MMO market 19% 25%
   Smartphone game market 43% 32%
   Tablet game market 40% 32%
   PC/Mac downloadable market 41% 27%
   Game outsourcing   8% 17%
   Game tools/middleware market 13% 21%
   Game academia 17% 17%
   Game marketing/PR 14% 19%
   Game media 13% 18%
   Game funding/VC   8% 15%
   Game legal   4% 12%

GDC 2012 conference attendees develop on these platforms*:

  • 70% Smartphone & Tablet
  • 37% PC/Mac
  • 25% Web
  • 22% Console

The Average GDC Attendee*:

  • Has worked in game development for 5.9 years
  • Have worked on an average of 10 games
  • Manage an average of 12 people directly or indirectly
  • Geography: 82% of GDC attendee are from North America with the balance mainly coming from Western Europe (9%) and Asia (6%)

Top four actions attendees have taken as a result of attending GDC 2012*:

"A collection of some of the most creative and visionary minds in the game development industry come together to share knowledge, discussion and ideas"

-- GDC 2012 Attendee
  • Visiting an exhibitor's website
  • Sent an email
  • Requested more information
  • Downloaded a GDC Session from GDC Vault

GDC 2012 conference attendees agree*:

  • 93% of attendees said they heard something useful within their craft that they didn't know before
  • 91% of attendees said they were inspired
  • 76% of attendees gained strong leads to advance their business
  • 45% of attendees said the Expo Floor was one of the most important reasons they attend GDC

*Source: GDC 2012 Attendee Survey by Audience Insights


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