GDC will stream some canceled talks on Twitch next week

The Game Developers Conference will stream many of the talks it would have aired at its canceled event, organizers announced today. “Thanks to submissions from many of the original speakers who had talks accepted for GDC 2020, organizers will be streaming speaker-recorded versions of the talks they would have given in person, for free all week,” a spokesperson said. The talks will take place when the conference was scheduled, from March 16th through 20th, and stream via Twitch for free from 9AM to 5PM PT. Talks will also be available via the GDC vault; some will also be posted to YouTube in the weeks to come.

GDC 2020 speakers are welcome to submit talks after the physical event as well. Organizers will also hold a virtual awards ceremony for the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Trent Kusters and Kim Swift, respectively. In the weeks leading up to GDC, major companies such as Sony, Electric Arts, Unity, Kojima Productions, and Epic all withdrew from the event over health and safety concerns. On February 28th, organizers announced that the conference would be postponed until summer.

Following the news, organizations such as Gamedev. World and Wings began relief funds for those unable to recoup their lost costs. Since the announcement, companies like Microsoft have announced their own live streams that were originally planned for the event.