GDC boss pledges to retain creative focus
The executive producer of the Game Developer's Conference, Jamil Moledina, has pledged that his event won't lose its focus or editorial integrity despite pressure from former E3 exhibitors to get more involved in the event.
Speaking in a guest editorial on GamesIndustry.biz today, Moledina assured the industry that GDC - which next year moves back to San Francisco - will retain "its collegiate, intimate atmosphere."
"While E3 was a large expo for publishers to present their upcoming games to retailers in an expo form, GDC has always been about the attendees valuing our editorially balanced sessions," he commented.
According to Moledina, GDC will be welcoming approaches from former E3 exhibitors wishing to get involved in the show - but he outlined a number of ways in which companies' involvement will be quite different to how they are used to presenting products at E3.
"For the past few years, savvy publishers have been seeing GDC as a way to validate their new franchises, and working with us to propose editorially sound sessions," he explained - giving the examples of Spore and Assassin's Creed as games which have been introduced to the world through creatively focused, enlightening GDC presentations.
Moledina claimed that developer concerns over a heightened involvement in the show by publishers are misplaced - pointing out that the show's mandate already covers the business side of development, with a dedicated Business and Management track at the conference as well as partnerships such as developer and publisher "speed dating" event Game Connection.
Ultimately, however, Moledina was adamant that he and his team will work to retain GDC's unique atmosphere - "where developers are free to share ideas with each other in the hallways, where vendors on the show floor can actually answer all of your questions in a business-like setting."
"It's this special balance of editorial integrity and high-impact networking that developers tell me they love about the GDC," he concluded, "and we're not about to change that."
Click here to read Jamil Moledina's guest editorial in full.