GDC attracts record 18,000 attendees

The CMP Game Group, organisers of the Game Developers Conference, have announced that more than 18,000 game industry professionals attended the conference last week in San Francisco.

The five day event featured over 400 sessions and an expo and career pavilion with more than 300 exhibitors and sponsors.

"Every year, the GDC's goal is to deliver tailored learning and networking opportunities for the diverse groups of people who make games," said executive director Jamil Moledina.

"This year's conference not only exceeded our historical attendance record, but also surpassed expectations in terms of content quality and deal-making productivity."

The growth of the conference has already led to suggestions that media access to next year's conference will be throughinvite only

This year's keynotes were delivered by Microsoft's John Schappert, sharing the company's vision for their XNA Game Studio development software, and inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil, who discussed how exponential growth in the power of technology can allow developers to revolutionize interactive entertainment.

CMP has announced that the conference will return to the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA in 2009 on March 23-27.