The founder of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) has described the event as "quickly turning into a dinosaur"

Chris Crawford, the original founder of GDC, has expressed concerns about the substantial expenses associated with the conference, which he contrasts with the minimal costs of digital interactions, suggesting the event is "quickly becoming outdated."

GDC was established by Crawford, known for his work at Atari in the early 1980s and the innovative Cold War game Balance of Power for Macintosh, in 1988. Its inaugural event was hosted at his home in California.

Crawford parted ways with the event’s management in the 1990s after disagreements arose with board members regarding the future direction of the conference.

This past week, the event underwent a rebranding to become GDC Festival of Gaming. However, The Guardian observed that even a change in branding may not recover it, as highlighted by games editor Keza MacDonald, who described the event as "excessively costly" and pointed out many in the global video game developer community are wary of traveling to the US.

GamesIndustry.biz communicated with Crawford via email regarding his views on these developments. Although he remarked that he might not have "valuable insights on GDC's future," due to having exited the industry long ago, he conveyed this perspective:

"There have been significant shifts that diminish GDC's appeal.

"When it started, developers had no platform to discuss their ideas; I initiated it to facilitate crucial idea-sharing. Now, there are countless platforms for such exchanges. Numerous forums exist for every aspect of game development, and we have interactive technologies that connect people globally.

"Considering the extensive time and financial commitments for attending a conference like GDC, compared to the negligible costs of online interaction, it seems GDC is fast becoming obsolete."

GamesIndustry.biz has requested a statement from GDC and will update this article following their response.