GDC, San Francisco

The Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco is the world’s largest annual gathering of professionals across the games industry—from developers and designers to publishers, marketers and investors. Each year it provides a unique snapshot of the industry’s priorities, challenges and innovations.

In 2025, climate-focused conversations saw noticeable growth across the event. Panels such as “Designing Games for a Sustainable Future” and workshops like “Building Climate-Conscious Game Communities” drew strong engagement from studios of all sizes.

PlanetPlay represented the GREAT project in multiple meetings and roundtables with studios, publishers and platforms. Although the overall attendance at GDC felt slightly lower compared to previous years, there was a marked increase in appetite for credible, actionable climate initiatives.

The Play2Act initiative continued to gain momentum, with several participating studios expressing interest in deeper involvement throughout 2025. The case-study results are already helping shape greener content strategies, demonstrating clearly that players care deeply about climate and nature. This evidence is also empowering studios and platforms to support policy conversations—giving millions of players a voice in what matters to them.

Face‑to‑face time with key industry partners at GDC proved invaluable: exchanging learnings, sharing case‑study outcomes, exploring future collaborations and securing commitments for the next phase of the GREAT project.