Gamer's World | GDC and PAX East Reveal Two Sides of the US Game Business

I spent a few weeks in the United States in March, attending two very different videogame events. First was GDC Festival of Gaming in San Francisco, an event aimed at professionals in the game industry, held from March 9. This was followed a couple of weeks later by PAX East, which is the polar opposite: a fan-focused expo for gamers.

These two events showed two very different glimpses at the Western game business in 2026. PAX was a reminder of the past few years of endless layoffs and turmoil in the US in particular, while PAX reminded us of why we do it all in the first place.

GDC's Post-Peak Reality

GDC — better known as the Game Developers Conference — reached peak attendance in 2024 and 2025, with around 30,000 industry attendees each year.

This year rebranded as GDC Festival of Gaming in an attempt to reach a wider audience within the game biz, the show was hit by a number of problematic factors. Many developers were out of work and unable to buy a pass, and overseas were visitors unable or unwilling to visit the US in the wake of unpredictable immigration restrictions — and the result was plain to see.

The drastic reduction in attendees — down 30% to 20,000 — was bad. Plenty of people opted to attend without actually buying the expensive event pass, setting up meetings in nearby cafes or the sunny Yerba Buena Gardens park outside the Moscone Center.

Conference Still Delivers

Once you stepped inside the expo part of the event, the low number of exhibitors was clear as day: Half the venue was simply closed, with a much smaller number of booths assembled in the other half. If the expo part had been my main port of call, it would have been a sorely disappointing trip.

*The expo at this year's GDC was around half the size of recent years, with regular major exhibitors such as Epic Games, Unity and PlayStation absent from the show floor. (©Daniel Robson)*

Luckily the conference part was great as usual. Yes, plenty of sessions and talks were canceled, including a keynote by legendary Japanese developer Hideo Kojima, who pulled out of GDC without explanation.

But the conference offered a varied and exciting range of viewpoints. Popular talks included the unveiling of early details of Microsoft's new Xbox Project Helix console and a post-mortem of Donkey Kong Bananza. A series of talks showed the incredible psychological research that goes into making the hit dating game Love and Deepspace.

*Jason Ronald, Vice President of Next Generation at Xbox, outlines Microsoft's plans for its newly unveiled next console, codenamed Project Helix. (©Daniel Robson)*

Meeting New Talent

It was also just really nice to be surrounded by young creative talents who want to join the game industry. Despite the Western industry's volatility these past few years, new blood still wants in.

I met dozens of college students or recent graduates who were at GDC to make connections and break into the game business. One panel hosted by The Game Awards Future Class alumni and Neon Noroshi PR agent Samantha Low outlined how best to support juniors and interns coming into the industry.

Another was dedicated to the rise of independent videogame journalism, hosted by veteran journos such as Dean Takahashi and Stephen Totilo. Following a half-hour of insights from them, I was delighted to see dozens of budding young writers line up to ask questions about how best to start a career in game media.

One kid I met freaked out when he heard that I work for IGN Japan, and gave me an impassioned monologue on his dreams of someday doing what we do, before showing me some of his work so far. Game media is a tough business, especially with the encroachment of AI, so it was encouraging to know that we still have some up-and-comers.

Indies Drive Innovation

Meanwhile, side events like Day of the Devs, The MIX and Indie Arcade featured scores of games made by independent developers, with highlights including the visually striking first-person speedrun game Grindset T.V. and soon-to-be-released Indian cozy game Fishbowl. This was proof if proof were needed that much of the innovation in games today comes from the indies.

*Parties like Indie Arcade held at San Francisco nightclubs allowed GDC attendees to play demos of upcoming games well into the night. (©Daniel Robson)*

Asia's Growing Influence

GDC was also a reminder that while the Western game industry is in crisis, Asia is doing pretty great, thank you. Developer-publishers from China such as NetEase and Infold Games delivered multiple sessions at the conference, while the painfully reduced expo nonetheless featured booths by plenty of development support businesses and AI services from Asia.

Mixer parties held by Shochiku Games, Gamirror Games, JETRO and more offered a portal to reciprocal success between companies from the West and Asia. Many of my friends, colleagues and partners in the US showed renewed interest in games coming from Japan, China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia, keen to learn more about a region that has come to represent over half the global game industry in terms of sales.

Where Fans Come First

PAX East was a much more chilled experience. This was my first time at this Boston event since February 2020, when the pandemic was kicking off in earnest. Indeed, that year's PAX East proved to be one of the last major IRL game events before COVID shut everything down for months on end. (Coming from Japan where the virus was already spreading fast, I was one of the few people in the convention centre that year wearing a mask.)

*Daniel at PAX East in Boston later in March. (©Daniel Robson)*

PAX is a much more fan-friendly series of events, aimed squarely at the public rather than business networking. While you do still see enormous booths for giant platform holders such as Nintendo, PAX events are much more focused on showcasing fun games of all sizes, from indie games to board games.

Most global shows of this scale tend to focus attention on upcoming releases, whereas at PAX, many of the games are already out but still finding an audience. It's a very low-pressure environment where fun outweighs marketing, and new discoveries abound.

Community and Connection

Part of the fun of PAX events is going with a group of friends and finding new things to play together. No friends? No problem! PAX has tons of ways to meet likeminded shy gamer nerds and form quick camaraderie. You might stumble across a group of event staff randomly playing a Jackbox party game in the corridors inviting passers-by to join in, or attend any number of fan-led community group meetings centered around various game genres, board games, cosplay, streamers, and more.

It was a welcome reminder of the human touch that only IRL events can offer, and PAX's unique community-first approach.

*The show floor at PAX East. (©Daniel Robson)*

Nintendo boasted an enormous booth at PAX East, with a fun animated photo spot celebrating the recent release of a Switch 2 update for Super Mario Bros. Wonder, another photo spot for the new hit Pokémon spinoff Pokopia, and countless demo stations for indie games on Switch and Switch 2.

*Nintendo had one of the largest booths at PAX East. (©Daniel Robson)*

Indie Discoveries at PAX

My aim was to find indie games I didn't know already, and PAX East did not disappoint. Some new favourites included Bloodbreaker: Labyrinth of the Witch, developed by Phoenix Up! Media and published by Soft Source, a punishing 2D action game with randomly generated levels that end in bastard-hard boss battles.

Another fave was Project Blitz from Japanese developer Area 35. This spin-off of the Tiny Metal series is a fun and chaotic four-player party game with a top-down map. It's a bit like Bomberman, where players grab weapons and compete to take control of a tank that must be delivered to an extraction zone.

Small Teams, Big Ideas

There were also plenty of games made by small teams of self-funded developers or talented students. Among these, I enjoyed a (very short) demo of A Corgi's Cozy Hike, where players take the role of a dog and do doggy stuff — like catching frisbees and peeing on fire hydrants — as they explore a sunny and colourful paradise island. What's unique about this upcoming game is that developer Scalisco plans to donate 10% of proceeds to dog shelters in the United States, supporting our real-life canine buddies.

Memoria Wake is an isometric action-adventure game with Metroidvania and soulslike elements, inspired by games like Death's Door. Developer Team Crescendo is made up of a handful of college students in the US, but after a couple of years' work they have crafted a polished demo with dreamlike environments that are interesting to explore.

And then there's Nullpoint Protocol. The developer from Everbloom Games manning the booth explained that he loves the dungeon raid boss battles in Final Fantasy XIV, but that he struggled to find friends willing to spend hundreds of hours playing that massive MMORPG with him. So he boiled these encounters down to their essence, resulting in a boss-rush game with deep RPG elements, such as character classes and hundreds of abilities to choose between. All of this is presented with a simple and welcoming UI design and bold character designs that make it easy to play and hard to master.

Looking Ahead

After three weeks Stateside, I'm ready to get back to life in Japan. I'm looking ahead to Kyoto's BitSummit indie game fest in May, plus plenty more events in Japan and across Asia this summer. As games continue to cross geographical and cultural borders, it's a fascinating time to be a gamer.

Author: Daniel Robson

Daniel Robson is the Executive Producer of IGN Japan. Follow his series, Gamer's World, on JAPAN Forward.