GDC picked up E3 constituents, says Moledina

GDC boss Jamil Moledina has told GamesIndustry.biz that this year's event saw a healthy rise in attendance and exhibitor numbers following the announcement that E3 is to be downsized.

More than 16,300 people attended GDC 2007, a rise of 30 per cent over last year, while the number of exhibitors was up 32 per cent to reach just over 260.

Moledina said several factors contributed to the event's growth, confirming, "We certainly did see a boost in interest following the E3 announcement - I couldn't keep my voicemail clear that whole week.

"In retrospect, it's difficult to point to a single factor, but considering the current volume of dealmaking and the halo of press conferences and industry parties going on around the show, it does seem that some former E3 constituents have relocated to the Game Developers Conference."

According to Moledina, moving GDC to San Francisco made it more accessible for both local and international visitors, and attendees welcomed the introduction of hands-on hardware workshops with Microsoft and Intel.

Numbers were also boosted by high profile speakers such as Phil Harrison, Shigeru Miyamoto, Warren Spector and Cliff Bleszinkski. More than 700 speakers gave talks at GDC in total.

"The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Our alumni attendees uniformly felt it was the best GDC they've attended in recent years, citing the high quality and relevance of sessions, while newcomers were saying it was the best event in the game industry where they made connections and deals with all the key people they now had access to," said Moledina.

"The keynotes were a huge hit with both groups, and generally people felt that the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit flowing at the GDC was a significant boost to the game industry overall."

Organisers CMP are already working on ideas for GDC 2008, which looks set to be even bigger. However, Moledina said, "It's important to note that size itself isn't the metric, but rather the quality of the individual developer's experience that is our primary measure of success.

"That's how the GDC and our Advisory Board evaluate submitted content, and that's ultimately the value you experience on site."