View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by pass type, track, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can view session and speaker details for the 2024 Game Developers Conference. New sessions are regularly added leading up to GDC, and all dates and times will be announced about 4 weeks before the event. Once live, you will be able to build your schedule with the GDC Mobile App.
Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend.
Josh Harrison (Director of Marketing, Velan Studios)
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Topic: Business & Marketing, Production & Team Leadership
Format: Session
Vault Recording: TBD
Audience Level: All
Every live service game will eventually shut down. Yes, even yours! Too often, headlines point the finger at developers, studio execs, or even toxic players, when this is a very natural conclusion to every online game. It's possible to teach players, investors, and fellow developers that a game's sunset is part of its lifecycle, so everyone feels better when it's time to pull the plug.
Knockout City was launched in May 2021 and shut down in June 2023. The team at Velan Studios decided to take a different approach to their title's sunset, celebrating its successes at the end by going out with a bang, instead of brushing an ailing game under the rug.
This session will use Knockout City as a framework for how to sunset a game on a high note, and how to turn an unsustainable title into an opportunity for building brand loyalty, player goodwill, and positive press.
This talk will offer best practices and thought starters on how to shut down a live service game without guilt or grief. Learn why sunsetting as quickly and uneventfully as possible may not be the best option.
This session is for anyone working in marketing, community, or product management on a live service game. Even people reading this thinking, "But my game's going great, we'll never shut it down!"
