Ok folks, the official word from our pilot is IN: GDC 2024 is a WRAP. Yep - after round trip spanning the globe, the Affogata G600 jet is safely in the hanger.
And of course, after it's washing (left over Ace of Spades champagne came through) and it's hand polishing (turns out Balenciaga cashmere doubles as a fantastic microfiber towel.)
Now... April Fools aside, #GDC24 left me with a complex taste.; mostly delightful, but with some strong kicks (think: that chocolate with chili peppers in it.)
Some kneejerk blurbs:
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞
It was fantastic to meet with our awesome clients (and in the flesh!) And we're excited after meeting so many new folks that want to get their hands on the tool. That said, we missed many cool learning opportunities (talks, sessions, get togethers, etc) due to jam packed schedules. That kinda stung. But hey, we’re on mission to redefine player feedback loops here. Not all fun & games ;)
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭-𝐢𝐟𝐬
There is a palpable bipartisanship within the AI and Web3 camps. You've got your total optimists (the bloomers) and the total cynics (the doomers) with not much in between.
For gaming, the AI cycle is novel on the front-end, consumer side but already has real dev/production utility. All in all, a year away from being meaningful. GDC25 will have actual ground breaking applications.
And with Web3 - which is a completely different subject - I'm bullish on community driven focuses (although there are unique challenges there) as strong communities drive profitable, evergreen games. For Web3, that's a big plus. BUT...I’m still seeing P2E (Play to Earn) games out there and not sure why. These projects are making a lot of profit from tokenization/NFT sales before an actual game is released/even defined. In the rare event that they are, the games don’t look like fun at all. It's like we haven't learned at all from the past.
𝐒𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧
An otherwise BEAUTIFUL area, the hype about SF's downfall is real. For me, it's definitively changed since my last visit 15 yrs ago. Every day Itamar Rogel and I saw some crazy sh** on the streets that I can't repeat here ..so sad. This chaos was also reflected in the prices of EVERYTHING; especially food. Outrageous even for Cali standards. I think Tony Bennett took his heart back.
𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐨/𝐖𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐨
Look, the Vision Pro is future-proof. But a lot of products in the early adopter cycle will lack the practical application to be meaningful (and cheap.) We’ll get there MUCH sooner than people think. That’s why Apple MSRP'd at 3.5k - they don't care. They released this to get this thing in the hands of devs & iterate on production scalability. Re: Waymo, however groundbreaking the concept from a business perspective, LIDAR innovation, software, etc - it still feels super niche. Also, the experience left us thinking “darn, this is exactly how I expected it to be.” A driverless taxi that is less smooth, intuitive at driving than a human.
#GamingIndustry #SF #GDC2024
