Over the past two days, game players from all over the world have been rushing to San Francisco, the “center of the universe,” to look forward to the arrival of the annual event, the Global Game Developers Conference (GDC).
According to the official website, this year's GDC will be held from March 18 to March 22. More than 700 lectures and discussions on various topics such as AI, VR/AR, programming, storytelling, and indie games will be held during this period. The exhibition hall will be open from March 20 to March 22,$Microsoft (MSFT.US)$,$Meta Platforms (META.US)$, Epic Games, Tencent, etc. will participate in the exhibition to showcase the latest game development tools and services.
Compared with other game exhibitions, GDC is developer-oriented, more industry-oriented, and more ToB. Game developers from around the world gather at GDC every year to hold technical lectures, share development experiences, exhibit game results, and have in-depth exchanges and discussions on popular and cutting-edge topics in the industry.
“I think this year's GDC is bigger than last year. In addition to the exhibition venue, there are also many events organized spontaneously by practitioners. According to my observations, there may be 50% more domestic participants this year than last year.” Xiong Panfeng, vice president of Independent Light, who attended GDC for the 6th time, told reporters that although the official meeting is next Monday to Friday, in fact, some events have already started early this Sunday. “Basically, I have a very tight schedule every day. Going out at 9 a.m. to returning to my place of residence at 11:30 p.m., is a routine operation.”
What kind of expectations do domestic game players have for GDC this year? What new technologies and trends will it focus on?
The reporter interviewed people from many game companies, and they all mentioned AI without exception. A source from a listed domestic game company told reporters that GDC has further increased exchanges and discussions on the AI field this year, and there has been a transition from last year's “outlook” to this year's “application of multi-dimensional results.”
The reporter looked through the GDC agenda and found that there were more than 300 conferences, large and small, involving AI. Topics include AI NPCs, AI-driven UGC editors, character creation using large models, and modular game AI architectures. Compared to last year, the presentation of AI goes deeper into the specific aspects of game development, and there has been a marked increase in cases and practices.
Ding Chaofan, head of the AI Lab at Giant Network, also told reporters that AI technology is continuing to promote gameplay innovation and R&D efficiency in the game industry. This year, the focus will be on integrating AIGC with core game gameplay and the direction of AI-native games, using AI Agents/multi-modal big models to promote gameplay innovation.
“The multi-modal large model became the focus of the technology community in 2024. With its high ability to integrate modes such as text, images, audio, and even 3D, it provides more comprehensive and natural information and more diverse forms of human-computer interaction to better meet user needs, and the industry is of great value.” Ding Chaofan said.
At this top event in the global gaming industry, quite a few Chinese manufacturers also appeared. According to the GDC's official disclosure agenda,$TENCENT (00700.HK)$There will be 14 presentations focusing on popular fields such as AI and machine learning, and the Giinex game AI engine will also be showcased at the booth.$NTES-S (09999.HK)$We will participate in 10 sessions to share theories and applications of cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning.
Additionally, company people from Miha Tour will introduce techniques for designing major limited-time events for the open world game “Genshin” (International Service), and Lilith will participate in discussions on how to cultivate a healthy gaming community. People from ByteDance, who recently adjusted their organizational structure and restarted the game business, will share their experience in using large models in “Planet: Restart” to create game NPCs and player characters at GDC.
In addition to major manufacturers, a huge number of indie game developers are also an important force in GDC. Xiong Panfeng mentioned that one of the major changes in GDC this year is a marked increase in the number of domestic indie game publishers attending the conference, and more and more countries (such as India, Turkey, etc.) have begun to vigorously support indie games as a business card showing the country's image.
“Independent game teams often master core game ideas, and with the help of AI tools, they can indeed close the manpower gap with major manufacturers. Domestic indie game teams have also always paid close attention to the benefits this direction brings to game development.” Xiong Panfeng said.
It is worth noting that the Nvidia GTC2024 conference will also be held at the same time as GDC. Eleven game industry theme sharing sessions will be held during this period, covering topics such as AI NPCs and AI-driven 3D character construction. People from Chinese manufacturers Tencent and NetEase related companies will share the topics.
“We will focus on the latest achievements in the AI industry presented at the two major conferences, especially the sharing of their AI superior technologies and products by leading companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia.” A relevant person in charge of a listed travel company told reporters that from the perspective of the game industry, he expects the continued development of AI technology to promote the birth of new gameplay methods, open up new tracks to expand industry space, and continuously optimize and empower AI technology to further improve R&D efficiency and optimize R&D results.
Editor/Jeffrey