Bigger, better, GDC 2023!
It was again time for the brave team of Apprien and PHZ Game Studios to put on the yellow hoodies and jump on a silver bird and fly over the big ocean to the wild west! This blabber means that Arto and Sasu geared up and headed to the yearly highlight of the game industry events GDC in San Francisco.
For me this presented to be the tenth GDC that I have participated. The event itself has changed a lot, at least by size, but the spirit has stayed pretty much the same: celebrating the game community and their achievements, getting together, no matter where and how far you are coming from and sharing the knowledge and best practices amongst the peers. All and all, I would say that GDC is much more than your regular business to business trade show – it’s state of mind: one week sheer gaming madness for the game industry peeps!
GDC 2023 San Francisco
This year GDC returned even stronger and larger than previous year, that was the first live event after the pandemic break out. Some 24.500 gaming industry professionals gathered in and around Moscone Center for the event. Some 5000 participants remained only online via digital GDC attendance. Also, some 3000 participant where attending Game Connection Americas 2023 in Oracle Park. This is purely a different event and not even a side event for GDC, but still utilizing the same week and the attendants that are in town. This double occupancy made the week bit hectic for our dynamic (prizing) duo Arto and Sasu since the events and meetings are happening in 2 different locations and in 3 different meeting system. Anyway we survived and had some 70 focused meetings and hundreds of run-in meetings during the week. We talked a lot about dynamic pricing solutions and how game studios can boost their sales with this simple and automated solution. We also met potential investors and publisher partners and some studios that were looking for WHF help for their current projects. I assume that some interesting new will be following these meetings during this spring – stay tuned 😉
Apprien & Zaibatsu Traditional drinks or cocktails in San Francisco
We also arranged our legendary Apprien drinks or cocktails at the famous Irish Bank bar in San Francisco. This year we organized it together with our friends from Jyväskylä Zaibatsu. We gathered some 90 friends and customers of our companies to hang out with us in a relaxed atmosphere on a #CalifornianStreetParty as we called it, since half of the people were roaming outside on the street and enjoying the only decent weather day for the week. All and all, GDC happened again, but we survived it! Onwards and upwards our dear game-heads and see you next year!
Yours in yellow hoodies, Arto & Sasu