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GDC Main Stage Emcee Liz Ryerson Shares Thoughts on This Year's 'Future of Play' Theme

The 2023 Game Developers Conference is looking to the "Future of Play" with this year's Main Stage, and emcee Liz Ryerson is ready for what the future holds. 

Game developer and composer Liz Ryerson will be hosting this year's GDC Main Stage—along with serving as a jury member for the Experimental Game Workshop. In a recent chat with GDC, she talked about what she sees as the future of the game industry. In short: It's not about finding the "next big thing."

"I honestly think of the future as being more how people adjust to new situations and new platforms, rather than some great leap in technology," she said. "We’ve had so many mini waves of things: There was mobile games, social games, VR, etc. And those things are around, but what I’m interested in is the cultural value of games and it being a pleasant industry to work in. I would like to think the future is going in that direction."

GDC 2023 will host GDC Main Stage: The Future of Play, a multi-part presentation about how the game industry is expanding—opening up to unique perspectives, opportunities, and challenges. The fourth GDC Main Stage event is about exploring the new ideas and ideals gaining ground in the industry, and how to make them work for you.

The Main Stage talks will be delivered by three game industry professionals. Chandana Ekanayake (Creative Director & Co-Founder, Outerloop Games) will be discussing designing games about experiences unique to marginalized cultures, Robert Anderberg (CEO & Co-Founder, ControlZee) is diving into User-Generated Content, and Jen Oneal (Game Industry Executive) will be sharing her thoughts on building healthy studio cultures while working from home. Given the recent discussions around in-office, remote, and hybrid work situations, Liz said this remains a crucial topic for game devs and companies. 

"As much as workplaces in other fields are getting rid of remote work, it's still a big part of game development—especially for smaller studios that depend on that kind of work," Liz said. "I think that's obviously here to stay, and it should be. There are issues with remote work, of course, but there are people who work in the game industry who can't work in a lot of other industries because they can only do remote work. I think that's important."

Before the Main Stage presentation starts, attendees can race each other in real-time through an obstacle course game created by ControlZee using their UGC platform, dotbigbang. Attendees can scan the QR onsite around the Main Stage to join the game live with other attendees. It will be streamed to Swapcard so folks watching from afar can join as well. Doors open at 12:00pm, the game starts at 12:10, and the presentation will commence at 12:30pm. 

Register for GDC 2023 Here

We can’t wait to see you at GDC 2023, taking place March 20-24, 2023 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Head here for information on booking a hotel and other travel inquiries, and follow the #GDC23 hashtag for the latest news and updates for this year’s exciting event.

GDC returns to San Francisco this March 20-24, 2023, and registration is now open! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC23 hashtag on social media.

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GDC, gdc23, gdc 2023, Game Developers Conference, main stage
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