Austin GDC: Keeping the flavour

The organisers of the Austin Game Developers Conference have told GamesIndustry.biz that they are trying to keep the intimate nature of the show intact and currently have no plans to consolidate.

Speaking in an exclusive interview published today, event manager Izora Garcia de Lillard said "We wanted to keep the flavour of Austin as Austin. It is not meant to be the next GDC."

"We're looking at things less in terms of national boundaries and more in terms of where developers are in the world,"said CMP's Jamil Moledina. "GDC has been, and we intend for it to continue to be, the world's game developers conference. That is the one show where you get everything for everyone."

"Now, with Austin, with China, with our European events...all of those cater to that specific region. What developers are specializing in, in that area. And sometimes that gives a particular show like Austin the chance to 'drill down' to a greater extent that you might find at GDC."

Moledina and Lillard did not seem concerned that additional GDC-run shows in the US would dilute the audience for the main show in San Francisco, pointing out that many people attend all of the shows or multiple shows. They also did not foresee the show entirely filling the gap left by a downsized E3.

With E3 undergoing changes, some of the business components have migrated to GDC, but the conference is not physically able to become a trade or consumer show. "The trade show element is something that can be very complimentary to GDC," said Moledina.

The full interview with Jamil Moledina and Izora Garcia de Lillard can be read here.