The dates and the venue
GDC Festival of Gaming 2027 runs March 1 to 5 at the Moscone Center, 747 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Festival Hall opens Tuesday through Thursday. Business Hall opens Monday through Friday. Friday, March 5, is Career Day.
What each pass buys
The pass list is a set of scoped products. The scope decides which nights you need a room.
Festival — the full GDC Program of sessions and talks, Festival Hall Tuesday to Thursday, the GDC Nights events including the Developer's Concert and both awards ceremonies, and Business Hall access with guest meeting passes and reservable meeting spaces subject to availability. Early Rate $549.
Game Changer — everything in Festival, plus the Game Changer Lounge, daily lunch, reserved seating and a one-year GDC Vault subscription. Early Rate $1,249.
Festival Hall ONLY — the Festival floor and its sessions Tuesday to Thursday, with the awards ceremonies on Tuesday and Wednesday. It carries no Business Hall, main programme, meeting spaces or Developer's Concert. Early Rate $175.
Business Hall ONLY — Business Hall access Monday to Friday, reservable meeting spaces subject to availability, and limited guest meeting passes of two per day. It carries no Festival Hall and no GDC Nights. Early Rate $125.
1-Day Career — Friday only, covering the Career Faire and the career-focused sessions in West Hall, with Friday access to the Business Hall lobby. It carries no Festival Hall, main programme, meeting spaces or GDC Nights. Early Rate $125.
Indie or Start-Up and Academic passes each sit at an Early Rate of $299 and are eligibility based.
Combining passes
The FAQ states that Business Hall Only, Festival Hall Only and the 1-Day Career Pass can be combined, and that each pass is purchased separately. The organiser's own example is Business Hall Only plus Festival Hall Only, for dedicated meeting time alongside the Festival floor.
The rate clock
Super Early Rate closed on Friday, October 9 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The Early Rate window closes December 11 at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Group discounts apply to 10 or more Game Changer or Festival registrations. The FAQ states the group discount cannot be combined with any other offer or promotion, including the alumni rate, and that the Indie, Start-Up and Academic passes neither qualify for group pricing nor count toward the group minimum.
The cancellation window is a single date
Requests for registration, cancellations, substitutions, upgrades and downgrades must reach the registration team on or before February 5, 2027. Cancellations and downgrades carry a $250.00 fee for the main passes. A $75.00 fee applies to cancellation requests for the Festival Hall Only, Business Hall Only and 1-Day Career passes.
The organiser defines a downgrade as a move from Game Changer to a lower pass or a GDC Vault purchase, or from Festival to Festival Hall Only, Business Hall Only, 1-Day Career or GDC Vault. Refunds stop after that date for downgrades, cancellations and no-shows, and the cancellation fee is itself non-refundable. A pass cannot transfer to GDC 2028.
Substitution costs less. Email gdcregistration@informa.com to send someone in your place. Take that route before you cancel anything.
A sequence that keeps the trip flexible
Register inside the Early Rate window, because the rate ladder only moves up. Buy the base pass that covers the days you will actually use. Add Business Hall Only separately when meetings are confirmed, and add the 1-Day Career Pass last, since both are bought on their own.
Keep the hotel on terms you can exit until the pass side is settled. February 5, 2027 governs registration, cancellation, substitution, upgrades and downgrades, so calendar that date before the December rate deadline passes.
The hotel block and the 94103 corridor
GDC works with onPeak on discounted rates near the event. The organiser states that hotel blocks open for 2027 soon, that a party needing 12 or more rooms requires a sub block agreement, and that hotel questions go to GDC@onpeaksupport.com or (888) 998-2784.
Our directory records carry the corridor around the Centre. InterContinental San Francisco, 888 Howard Street 94103. San Francisco Marriott Marquis, 780 Mission Street 94103. Hyatt Regency San Francisco Downtown SOMA, 50 3rd Street 94103. Canopy by Hilton San Francisco SoMa, 250 4th Street 94103. W San Francisco, 181 3rd Street 94103. The St. Regis San Francisco, 125 3rd Street 94103.
Further out sit The Clancy, Autograph Collection, 299 2nd Street 94105, and the Palace Hotel, 2 New Montgomery Street 94105. Nine of those eleven carry a four-star directory rating. The St. Regis carries five.
The Union Square side adds Parc 55 San Francisco – a Hilton Hotel, 55 Cyril Magnin Street 94102, and Hotel Nikko San Francisco, 222 Mason Street 94102, both four-star, plus YOTEL San Francisco, 1095 Market Street 94103, a three-star record. Use the postal code as the corridor test: 94103 covers the Howard and Third Street side, 94102 the Union Square side.
Getting in without a car
The Moscone Center publishes no on-site parking. BART serves Powell Street and Montgomery Street, each about two blocks from the Centre. Muni Metro stops at Yerba Buena/Moscone Station across the street, and Caltrain arrives at 4th and Townsend.
Group rooms
For a team, hotelhuddle takes the request free and sends it to 50 or more hotels in the destination, with responses typically inside 24 to 72 hours and no markup on the rate you pay the hotel directly. Group rates usually begin at 10 rooms a night, and some properties discount from five. GDC routes 12 or more rooms to a sub block agreement, so state that size up front.
The short version
Register inside the Early Rate window. Stack the smallest passes that cover the days you will use. Keep the hotel flexible until the pass plan is settled. February 5, 2027 governs all of it.