As the internet raged, game developers at GDC screamed for change

26.03.2024 - 11:35 / digitaltrends.com / Giovanni Colantonio

For a certain subset of angry gamers planted behind their keyboards, March 18 was just another day in the digital outrage mines.

The video game industry was weeks into its latest “controversy,” this one aimed at a small consulting team called Sweet Baby Inc. The company, which provides writing support for some of the industry’s biggest studios, had become a target for a small but loud group of players over the course of a few months. Their gripe? Sweet Baby Inc was forcing diversity into games through its industry-standard services, which include cultural consulting for studios looking to add more authentic representation into titles like Alan Wake 2. Some spent that Wednesday continuing to rage on sites like X (formerly Twitter) over the nebulous threat of “wokeness” in games, just as they had been for weeks.

That same day, the people who actually make those games were venting some anger of their own. But those voices weren’t hidden behind anonymous social media profiles; they were screaming out loud for the world to hear. The moment of catharsis opened this year’s Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of game developers. Frustrated with a new wave of harassment on top of months filled with layoffs and instability, developers gathered outside San Francisco’s Moscone Center to let out a collective scream.

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“Let’s take a minute where we all stop pretending, and express just how it feels to be a game developer in 2024,” an online page advertising the event read.

That was a running theme throughout GDC at large this year. The conference was a crucial forum for game developers who sought to achieve real change amid a dark moment for an industry that’s already shed thousands of jobs this year. And while the show took place under a long shadow, hope rang out through convention center hallways as game makers united to find their way back to the light.

Venting frustration

Game Developers Conference is an annual event where game makers gather in and around San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The show is home to insightful panels on game design, allowing creatives to share a year’s worth of learnings with their peers. On a more fundamental level, the conference acts as the industry’s biggest water cooler. It’s a social event, as evidenced by the smiling packs of attendees who spent the week chatting in Yerba Buena Gardens, a sunny park just outside of the Moscone Center’s North Hall.

Yerba Buena took on an even more symbolic role this year, acting as the home for the