GDCA was held last night during GDC 2024. While awards were handed out and developers celebrated, the winners also used the stage to shine a spotlight on a variety of important ongoing issues. This includes the current state of the video game industry and the massive wave of layoffs we’re seeing, as well as the ongoing war in Gaza.
This includes (but is definitely not limited to) the developers behind Mediterranean Inferno, who say publishers and platform owners have an obligation to ensure developers “not just survive, but thrive,” and the Hitman team’s anthology writes “f*ck the IDF and Free Palestine” In the winning video, host Alana Pierce addressed the layoffs in her opening monologue.
“Usually people who go to GDC every year have to cancel because it’s a bit of a luxury to come here when you don’t know when your next paycheck is coming,” Pierce said.
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These outspoken statements stand in stark contrast to various other video game award shows, which have historically avoided making such statements on the main stage in favor of advertising and sponsorship beats.
There weren’t any winners rushing off the stage here either, with Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Yoko Shimomura giving a long speech about her personal experiences in game development. There was even a minor jab at the Please Wrap It fiasco that happened at last year’s Game Awards (pictured below).
Those with the biggest platforms often speak at length, including Venba designer Abhi, who won the Best Debut, Social Impact and Seumas McNally Awards.
When asked why they took the opportunity to talk about such issues, Abhi told VG247: “I think there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance in having an awards show at a time like this, and to me, that makes it the perfect platform”.
Given that thousands of games industry employees have lost their jobs over the past 18 months, from AAA studios across the industry to small developers, seeing a platform not only give those affected a platform to speak out; It was refreshing to be given a platform. Also advocates for the human endeavor in game development.