Over the last couple of weeks, game development companies have been dropping out of the Game Developer’s Conference (aka GDC) left and right due to concerns about the recent outbreak of novel coronavirus that has the world on edge. Finally, GDC lost one major developer too many, and earlier today announced that the conference would be postponed altogether until this summer–but that decision is already taking its toll on smaller developers.
To that end, a GDC Relief Fund has already been established, and gamedev.world announced it would be hosting a week-long fundraiser to support those efforts. GDC itself has, thankfully, committed to refunding tickets of attendees, but there’s usually more that goes into attending GDC: conference-goers have been stuck with airfare purchases, lodging, and non-refundable travel visas that are now more or less useless. The coronavirus has an effect on even the largest companies, and to smaller developers, it’s bigger than being unable to attend GDC this year; it’s also the inability to salvage the lost money, which in some cases represents years of savings.
Therefore, from March 27th until April 3rd, gamedev.world will be hosting “-for free, live-translated, and online- various talks from both marginalized developers and the sponsors that made the event possible.” Viewers are free to make donations throughout the event, and gamedev.world has also confirmed that every dollar of those donations will go to the GDC Relief Fund and in turn, developers affected by the coronavirus and GDC postponement. In addition, gamedev.world is teaming up with itch.io to organize a bundle and game jam, where the proceeds from all submitted games will also be sent to the fund; those interested can visit gamedev.world’s website for details.
The postponement of GDC doesn’t really sound like “disaster” to most people who hear the news, especially since the fear of the coronavirus is so strong, but the truth is that many small developers took a ton of financial damage from it. For those developers, events like GDC are a gamble that makes a huge difference if successful, and this year luck just wasn’t in the cards.
However, the outpouring of support is heartening to see, and hopefully, the upcoming GDC fundraisers bring out the best of the gaming community for the sake of affected developers.
Source: gamedev.world
