GDC Festival of Gaming publishes eight ways to buy the week of March 1 to 5, 2027 at Moscone Center. The Early Rate runs from $125 to $1,249 and closes December 11 at 11:59pm PT. A procurement desk sending four people prices that ladder against the same four on one pass.
The ladder as printed
Business Hall Only costs $125 and covers the hall Monday to Friday, reservable meeting spaces subject to availability, and two guest meeting passes a day. It carries no Festival Hall entry and no GDC Nights.
Festival Hall Only costs $175 and covers the floor Tuesday to Thursday, the Game Developers Choice Awards on Tuesday and the Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday. It carries no Business Hall, no main programme and no Developer's Concert.
Festival costs $549 and carries the full programme, the Festival Hall, GDC Nights, Friday Career Day, Business Hall access and guest meeting passes. Game Changer costs $1,249 and adds the Game Changer Lounge, daily lunch, reserved seating at the keynote and GDC Nights, and a one-year GDC Vault subscription.
Indie, Start-Up and Academic each cost $299 and sit on an application or an accreditation. The 1-Day Career pass costs $125 and covers Friday. The Vault subscription costs $649 for a year, delivered after the event, and carries no building access.
The FAQ states that Business Hall Only, Festival Hall Only and the 1-Day Career pass can be combined, each bought separately. Business Hall Only plus Festival Hall Only comes to $300 for the week.
What a mixed team bills
Four staff with four jobs: one on Business Hall Only at $125, one on Festival Hall Only at $175, one on Festival at $549 and one on Game Changer at $1,249. The total is $2,098.
Four Festival passes cost $2,196. Four Game Changer passes cost $4,996. The mixed bill sits $98 under the Festival line and $2,898 under the Game Changer line.
Ten staff change the arithmetic in one line. The group rate takes 10 per cent off Festival or Game Changer prices at ten or more registrations, and the FAQ excludes Indie, Start-Up and Academic from the count. The discount therefore lands on the two highest tiers. A booth team of ten on Business Hall Only passes pays $1,250 and no discount reaches it.
Where the $649 Vault fits
Game Changer includes the Vault. Festival plus a standalone Vault costs $1,198 against $1,249 for Game Changer, so $51 buys the lounge, daily lunch, reserved seating at the keynote and GDC Nights.
The organiser's pages disagree on one line. The FAQ's Festival comparison lists a one-year Vault subscription under the Festival pass, while the Passes and Pricing page and the FAQ's own answer to "What passes include GDC Vault?" put it under Game Changer alone. A buyer who reads the comparison alone budgets $549 for the archive.
Two terms that move the sum
The Early Rate closes December 11 at 11:59pm PT, 80 days before the Monday opening. An onsite upgrade costs the difference against the onsite price, so a buyer who starts on a hall pass and adds programme access on site pays the higher tier's onsite figure.
Cancellations and downgrades close February 5, 2027, 24 days before the opening. A pass cancellation costs $250 and a hall-only or 1-Day Career cancellation costs $75. A downgrade from Game Changer to any lower pass counts as a change and carries the $250 fee.
The position
The ladder pays for a vendor team split across jobs. A booth shift prices at $125, a programme seat at $549, and the four-role team bills $2,098 against $2,196 for four Festival passes.
Game Changer earns its $51 step over Festival plus Vault. Beyond that the premium buys lounge, lunch and reserved seating for one person, and a team of four on Game Changer pays $4,996 for it.
Two failure modes carry a cost. A team bought on hall passes and upgraded onsite pays the onsite difference on every seat. A team cancelled after February 5 pays $250 a pass and recovers nothing.