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GDC Festival of Gaming
March 9-13, 2026
Moscone CenterSan Francisco, CA
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Agenda

View, browse and sort the ever-growing list of sessions by pass type, track, and format. With this Session Viewer, you can build your schedule in advance and access it during the show via export or with the Mobile App, once live. Sessions do fill up and seating is first come, first serve, so arrive early to sessions that you would like to attend.

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Mar 09 Monday | 4:30 pm
'Balatro' Community Playbook: From Launch to Letting Go
Player EngagementLaunch
Speaker: Emma Smith-Bodie  (Playstack)
Location: Room 2010, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Discovery & Marketing, Independent Development
Format: Lecture
Mar 10 Tuesday | 11:50 am
'Marvel Rivals': The Untold Launch and LiveOps Journey Behind Tens of Millions of Players
Launch
Speaker: Yachen Bian  (NetEase Games)
Location: Room 2014, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Discovery & Marketing, Business Strategy
Format: Lecture
Mar 10 Tuesday | 3:10 pm
Influencing Fandom: Making Games That Market Themselves
SeriesLaunch
Speaker: Emily Pitcher  (SonderingEmily)
Location: Room 2010, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Discovery & Marketing, Independent Development
Format: Lecture
Mar 11 Wednesday | 4:30 pm
From Discovery to Launch: An Inside Look at the Publisher-Developer Relationship
LaunchPitching
Moderator: Ben Starr  (Independent)
Speakers: Patrick Johnson  (Playstack), Harvey Elliott  (Playstack), Joe Clark  (Studio 316)
Location: Room 2016, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Business Strategy
Format: Panel
Mar 13 Friday | 10:50 am
From Project Operator to 'The Operator': Postmortem of Supporting a Solo Dev to Find Launch Success
Launch
Speaker: Lewis Burnell  (ICO Partners)
Location: Room 2016, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: All
Track: Independent Development, Discovery & Marketing
Format: Lecture
What I've Seen in Over 600 VR Launches: What to Do, What to Avoid, and Where to Make Impact Early
Future Realities SummitLaunch
Speaker: Richard Duck  (Meta)
Location: Room 2018, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Business Strategy, Discovery & Marketing
Format: Microtalks
Mar 13 Friday | 1:40 pm
'Borderlands 4' Launch Load Testing
Launch
Speaker: Jeffrey Waldron  (Gearbox Software)
Location: Room 2016, West Hall
Pass Type: Festival Pass, Game Changer Pass
Audience Level: Intermediate
Track: Game & Production Technology
Format: Lecture