GDC 2012 details new Expo Floor, Career Pavilion exhibitors

Author: by Staff

As part of a continuing series of updates, organizers of the 2012 Game Developers Conference have debuted new details about over 170 companies now exhibiting during the March show's Expo Floor, Career Pavilion, and the brand-new GDC Play showcase. These three major sections will receive their own standalone exhibit areas at the San Francisco based show, and will offer attendees a chance to check out exciting new tools and products, network with the industry's top professionals -- and even discover the latest games from some of the industry's up and coming developers. This year, the GDC Expo Floor (floor plan, see Page 2) -- open from Wednesday, March 7th to Friday, March 9th -- will once again host expansive booths from major companies such as Nintendo, Sony, Intel, Google, Nvidia, Gaikai, Crytek, Unity, and many more. Elsewhere in the main Moscone North hall, the still being added-to GDC Expo will feature companies such as Tapjoy, Adult Swim Games, 6Waves, Sony Ericsson, BigPoint and PayPal, as well as schools such as DigiPen and the Academy of Art, all of which represent other essential facets of the games industry. The ever-popular Independent Games Festival Pavilion will once again be a major element of the GDC Expo floor, showcasing all of the professional and student finalists for the 14th annual Independent Games Festival. In addition, a number of specialized Government Pavilions will pepper the hall, providing spaces to show off the latest and greatest tool companies and game makers from a given area. Countries and regions hosting Pavilions this year include Germany, Korea, Nova Scotia, Belgium, Georgia, Scotland, and many more. Elsewhere, in its own dedicated hall in Moscone West, the GDC Career Pavilion (floor plan, see Page 1) will give aspiring and professional developers a venue to talk and network with some of the most influential companies from throughout the industry. Major firms already confirmed include AAA companies including Insomniac, WB Games, Blizzard, Sony, Ubisoft, and Activision, as well as top online game companies such as Crowdstar, Riot, Nexon, Tencent, and more. This area also hosts private meeting areas for major companies including Microsoft, Valve, Epic, and Havok. For an up-to-date PDF of the official floor plan for the Expo Floor and Career Pavilion, please visit the official GDC website. The third major hall at this year's GDC, in the South Hall's Esplanade Ballroom, will host the San Francisco show's first-ever GDC Play Pavilion, which will allow select emerging market or smaller developers to display their games to distributors, publishers, press, and of course, the thousands of other attendees at the event. Confirmed GDC Play exhibitors for this inaugural outing include BitFlip Games, Glorious Trainwrecks, games hosted by the Government of Canada, JumpCore Productions, games hosted by the Quebec Government Office, Trench Games, XGen Studios, and many more. Those who choose to host their games at the GDC Play showcase or set up a private meeting room there will also have their games featured at a special, invitation-only event, where sponsors, publishers, and other key decision makers will get direct exposure to the games on display, offering a chance to generate buzz and establish new business partnerships. All of the above areas augment the already robust lineup of lectures, panels, and tutorials featured within the show's Main Conference and specialized Summits. For further details on any of the sessions announced so far for the show, please check out GDC's official Schedule Builder. To keep abreast of all the latest news about GDC 2012, please subscribe to updates from the GDC news page via Twitter, Facebook, or RSS. GDC 2012 will take place March 5 through March 9 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and is owned and operated by Gamasutra parent company UBM TechWeb.