INTRODUCTION
The Game Developer Conference (GDC) is an event that brings game developers from all over the world to San Francisco. Here, they get to show their work to others, network, and start processes that will push the industry forward. I had the privilege to attend this year for GDC 2025, and during my visit I came across many exciting booths and vendors that I would like to highlight here. Here are my GDC Vendor Highlights!
SMALL VENDORS
- First on the list was a booth displaying the game Island of the Winds developed by Parity Games. Island of the Winds is an adventure game set in 17th century Iceland where you solve puzzles and navigate a land filled with folklore. I had a good time playing it and am excited to play the full release when it drops later this year. You can find a link to the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1689340/Island_of_Winds/
- Another vendor that I thought was interesting was a booth run by a company called Strobetano. Strobetano is an Italian-based company that is focused on developing VR titles. While at the booth I got to play one of their games called Neodori Infinity. Neodori Infinity is a racing game that I honestly sucked at but it was fun to play nevertheless. The developers have a plethora of other game titles even spanning to mobile VR games. They will be an interesting developer to watch in the space if you are at all interested in VR. Their company website can be accessed here: https://strobetano.com/projects
LARGE VENDORS
Those were some of the smaller booths that I visited but with the event being as big as it is, large AAA developers had booths as well. A couple of them were really good so I will give them a shout out here:
- Discord had a booth that gave out free items for all 3 days of the Expo. If you were so inclined you could visit each day for new goodies. They even had custom and permanent pins that would link to your personal Discord servers.
- XBOX had a booth as well. This booth wasn’t really big on free stuff although there were some pretty cool free socks that they gave out. The most interesting part of the booth was their networking area. Here, anyone could talk to actual XBOX game devs where they could get advice on getting into the industry. It was really nice for a big company like Microsoft to have this area which is crucial especially now, as more and more college students flood the industry. With all the layoffs that are also happening in the industry, networking booths like these are also extremely helpful for laid off developers.
- Lastly I will give a shoutout to an area of booths dedicated to Alternative Controller games. Alternative Controller games are just what they sound like, they are games that use unconventional controls for their gaming experiences. The University of Utah actually had a few games on display. In one game, I had to sit in a chair and swing it side to side to race others doing the same. To boost I had to lift myself from the seat and to turn I had to lift one leg out of the chair. There were many more games like this and they were all inventive and fun. This section of the Expo floor was one of my favorites.
CONCLUSION
There were many more booths at GDC but these were the select few that I found the most interesting. As an event GDC is a great place for developers to connect and talk about state of the industry. There were many vendors and talks that helped bring this event to life along with the 1,000s of developers that joined in San Francisco. It was an incredible time and I hope to be back in 2026!
