GDC Festival of Gaming Reveals First Round of 2026 Programming

18 Dec 2025, 22:12 by https://www.facebook.com/TheGavinSheehan/ · BC

Posted in: Conventions, Events, Games, GDC, Video Games | Tagged: Game Developers Conference, GDC Festival of Gaming

GDC Festival of Gaming Reveals First Round of 2026 Programming

GDC Festival of Gaming has revealed some of the first pieces of programming for the 2026 event, as we have an idea of what to expect

Published Thu, 18 Dec 2025 16:12:04 -0600
by Gavin Sheehan
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Last updated Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:42:05 -0600
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Article Summary

GDC Festival of Gaming 2026 unveils first programming highlights for March in San Francisco.
Sessions feature industry leaders from Minecraft, Roblox, Ghost of Yotei, Overwatch, and more.
Covers hot topics like game design, marketing, indie success stories, and combating toxicity.
Key speakers include Hideo Kojima, Mojang, Nintendo, PlayStation, and Supercell experts.

Organizers for the revamped GDC: Festival of Gaming have revealed the first round of programming they have for the upcoming event in March 2026. A good chunk of these center around specific steps made in the development and marketing of certain titles, while others are general talks for people who are interested in specific topics. We have the full list for you below, and you can check out more details in the schedule on their website.

Credit: GDC

GDC Festival of Gaming – 2026 Programming

UGC Rendering/Graphics

Modernizing the Rendering of Minecraft

Speakers: A.J. Fairfield (Principal Software Engineer, Mojang; Microsoft)
Timing: Monday, March 9, 2026 at 10:30-11:30am

Optimizing a Large, Time-Critical Problem: Occlusion Culling at Roblox

Speakers: Earl Hammon (Principal Rendering Engineer, Roblox)
Timing: Monday, March 9, 2026 at 11:50am-12:20pm

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Highlights

Clair Obscur Expedition 33: An Audio Postmortem

Speakers: Raphael Joffres (Lead Audio – Music Designer, Sandfall Interactive), Maxance Playez (Principal Sound Designer, Sandfall Interactive), Olivier Penchenier (Technical & Cinematic Sound Designer, Sandfall Interactive)
Timing: Monday, March 9, 2026 at 10:30-11:30am

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33: Delivering a Wide Scope of Features & Content When You Only Have Four Programmers

Speakers: Tom Guillermin (Co-founder and CTO, Sandfall Interactive), Florian Torres (Senior Gameplay Programmer, Sandfall Interactive)
Timing: Monday, March 9, 2026 at 1:50-2:50pm

Creative Leadership

Does it Make You Feel Like a Wandering Ronin? Creative Direction for Ghost of Yotei

Speakers: Nate Fox (Creative Director, Sucker Punch Productions)
Timing: Monday, March 9, 2026 at 3:10-4:10pm

Indie Success Stories

Putting the "Friends" in Friendslop: The Story of PEAK

Speakers: Nick Kaman (Studio Head, Aggro Crab)
Timing: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at 11:50am-12:20pm

despelote: Capturing the Feeling of 2001 Quito, Ecuador

Speakers: Julian Cordero (Game Developer, Independent)
Timing: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at 4:30-5pm

Product Manager Community/Summit Highlights

Refreshing Infinity Nikki's Core Mechanics Fun After 1 Year

Speakers: PR Peng (Feature Lead, Open-world Event Content, Infold Games (Papergames))
Timing: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at 1:20-2:20pm

The Invisible Layer: Redesigning Communication and Navigation in Candy Crush Soda Saga

Speakers: Liza Dobrovoljc (Associate Product Director, King)
Timing: Tuesday, March 10, 2026 at 4:20-5:20pm

Oh Banana! Nintendo Talk

Constructive Destruction: Fusing Voxel Tech and 3D Action Platforming in Donkey Kong Bananza'

Speakers: Kenta Motokura (Producer, Nintendo Co., Ltd.), Tatsuya Kurihara (Programmer, Nintendo Co., Ltd.)
Timing: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 10:30-11:30am

Discoverability, Marketing and Business Strategy

Marketing is Art: Working with Your Team to Get What You Need

Speakers: Joe Tirado (Marketing Director, System Era Softworks/Latinos In Gaming), Spencer Kern (Lead Franchise Artist, System Era Softworks)
Timing: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 10:30-11:30am

Beyond the Logo: Crafting Comprehensive Brand Systems for Games

Speakers: Alanna Cervenak (Senior Manager, Art and Design, PlayStation Studios Creative Arts), Matt Redway (Senior Creative Director, PlayStation Studios Creative Arts)
Timing: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 at 11:50am-12:20pm

Your Steam Page Needs a Soul: How to Get Your Game's Magic Across on Steam