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GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 will introduce a dedicated Business Hall, new ticket options and an updated weekly schedule. Taking place from March 1 to March 5 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, the event is changing how attendees can choose between meetings, showcases, career programming and conference sessions.
GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 adds a Business Hall
The new Business Hall will be located at Moscone West, in the space used for Speed Networking in 2026. Speed Networking will move to the Festival Hall. Organizers say the Business Hall is designed to give attendees a dedicated place for professional meetings and relationship-building.
It is intended for a range of industry participants, including independent developers meeting publishers, start-ups speaking with investors and executives connecting with business partners. In previous years, many GDC-week meetings took place in hotels, cafés and other locations around the city. A dedicated venue at Moscone may make it easier to plan conversations on the official event campus.
The Business Hall Only pass costs $99. It is aimed at visitors whose main reason for attending is business meetings rather than the full conference program. Attendees should compare the pass’s access with their planned activities before buying, especially if they also want to attend sessions or explore the Festival Hall.
New GDC passes and prices
Three new pass options are being introduced: Business Hall Only for $99, Festival Hall Only for $149 and 1-Day Career for $99. The options let attendees choose a more focused visit or combine passes to build a schedule around their goals.
- Business Hall Only: $99, for attendees primarily seeking business meetings.
- Festival Hall Only: $149, for discovering tools and technology, trying demos and watching showcases.
- 1-Day Career: $99, for access to Friday career programming.
Indie and Start-Up participants will have separate passes priced at $299 each, with different entry requirements. They replace the previous shared Early Stage Indie & Start-Up pass. The change is intended to give established independent studios a separate option rather than restricting eligibility based on how long a studio has operated.
The $499 Festival Pass is planned as the core, all-round GDC experience, with access to program sessions, the Festival Hall, Business Hall and GDC Nights. Other listed options are Game Changer at $1,149, GDC Vault Subscription at $649 and Academic at $299. Game Changer will retain enhanced benefits, including access to the Game Changer Lounge.
Program and digital access updates
The Luminaries Speaker Series, previously associated with the Game Changer pass, will become a conference track available to all conference attendees. Organizers say the change will make these discussions accessible to a broader audience. The GDC Summit Program will also be revised to give the community more input into its talks and follow a “one discipline, one room” structure.
The Digital Pass will no longer be offered as a bundled product in 2027. Instead, GDC Vault will be available as a separate subscription or add-on for people who want on-demand access to sessions throughout the year. Attendees considering digital access should check the standalone Vault option against their viewing needs.
Updated GDC 2027 schedule
The Festival Hall will open Tuesday through Thursday, rather than Wednesday through Friday. GDC Nights will take place Monday through Wednesday. The key evening events are the Developer’s Concert on Monday, the GDC Awards on Tuesday and the Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday.
The shift to three nights for GDC Nights is described as a scheduling decision, not a response to attendance. Organizers say leaving one evening open gives community and partner events more room to take place alongside the week’s major gatherings. Visitors planning their trip may want to account for the different opening days of the Festival Hall and evening events.
What the changes mean for attendees
The updated choices are intended to reflect the different reasons people travel to GDC, from learning and job seeking to raising funds, meeting partners and exploring new technology. Attendees can select a focused pass for a particular activity or choose the Festival Pass for broader access. Reviewing pass inclusions and the daily schedule in advance can help ensure the selected option covers the events and spaces that matter most.
GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 runs March 1–5 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Its new Business Hall, expanded pass selection and revised schedule give attendees more ways to plan their participation around meetings, showcases, career events and conference programming.
