Articles from GDC Festival of Gaming

Organizers of the 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), the premier, peer-recognized awards show for the global video game industry, have revealed the recipients of two of the ceremony’s most prestigious awards. Produced and hosted annually by GDC Festival of Gaming, the GDCA will see the international game development community honor Don Daglow with the Lifetime Achievement Award for designing, programming or producing more than 100 games over the course of his 55-year career. This year’s Ambassador Award, given to key individuals who help video games advance to a better place through advocacy and action, will go to the influential programmer and co-founder of Interplay Productions, Rebecca Ann Heineman, who will receive the award posthumously. The ceremony will take place Thursday, March 12 at 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM. The GDC Festival of Gaming, a global gathering for the full game-making ecosystem, will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from March 9 – 13, 2026.

GDC Festival of Gaming will host respected and influential game designer Rob Pardo for a keynote address titled “An Odyssey in Building Games That Last,” reflecting on decades spent working on and shaping some of video games’ most indelible and enduring classics, including such iconic strategy and RPG franchises as StarCraft, World of Warcraft and Diablo, and how Bonfire approaches making games today.

Today, the organizers of the GDC Festival of Gaming are announcing the finalists for the 26th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA), the premier, globally recognized accolades for peer-recognition in the video game industry. Finalists will be honored and winners announced at this year’s GDCA ceremony, held on Thursday, March 12, during the GDC Festival of Gaming in San Francisco. This year’s GDCA ceremony will take place the night after the 28th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) awards ceremony, held on Wednesday, March 11. Both ceremonies are open to all GDC Festival of Gaming passholders and streamed for free on the official GDC Twitch channel. The GDC Festival of Gaming, a global gathering for the full game-making ecosystem, will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from March 9 – 13, 2026.

Today, the organizers of the GDC Festival of Gaming have announced the finalists for the 28th annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) awards ceremony, the longest-running festival, summit, and showcase celebrating independent games and their creators. The IGF is part of the GDC Festival of Gaming, which will be held in person at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center from March 9 – 13. The winners will be announced during the IGF Awards, taking place at the GDC Festival of Gaming on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at 6:30pm PT.

GDC Festival of Gaming is proud to announce that acclaimed creator and studio founder Hideo Kojima will headline the event with a keynote address reflecting on the bold leap to establish KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS ten years ago. Titled “Restarting from Zero: A Message to Creators Considering Independence,” the keynote marks GDC’s first in five years and signals the event’s transformation into the GDC Festival of Gaming, a global gathering for the full game-making ecosystem, returning to San Francisco on March 9–13, 2026. Registration is now open at gdconf.com.

It’s time to change the game. GDC Festival of Gaming will welcome the global B2B games ecosystem to San Francisco in March 2026, marking a bold reimagining and expansion of the world’s premier games industry event.