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“It Doesn’t Feel Safe”: Why Some International Developers Are Rethinking GDC 2026

Some international developers told Ars Technica they were reconsidering GDC 2026 travel over border concerns, personal exposure, San Francisco conditions and cost. The interviews do not measure how many will skip the event or quantify the risk.
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Some international game developers told Ars Technica they were reconsidering or canceling trips to the 2026 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. They described worries about U.S. border scrutiny, personal exposure tied to political expression or identity, conditions in the city, and the cost of travel. Those interviews document individual concerns—not how many developers will skip GDC or the likelihood that any attendee will face harm.

Why are some international developers considering skipping GDC?

In a March 9, 2026 report, Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland spoke with developers weighing whether to travel to San Francisco for GDC. Interviewees described several concerns that can overlap but are distinct:

  • Entering the United States: Some cited accounts of border detention, refusals of entry, or searches of travelers’ phones. These were concerns reported by interviewees, not evidence that every international attendee faces those outcomes.
  • Personal exposure: Some worried that their political expression, minority status, or transgender identity could make travel feel less safe. These are their perceptions and accounts, not a measured assessment of risk.
  • Being in San Francisco: Concerns about conditions in downtown San Francisco were separate from worries about crossing the U.S. border. A traveler might be concerned about one, both, or neither.
  • Expense and professional value: Developers also weighed the cost of an international trip against the networking and community benefits of attending in person, including whether virtual events or other international gatherings could offer enough of that value.

Some interviewees described sharing itinerary and identity-document copies with trusted people or scrubbing social media before traveling. Those accounts show how individuals responded to their concerns; they are not general travel or legal advice.

Does it feel safe to travel to the US for GDC?

The interviews capture how particular developers assessed the trip, not a representative survey or a quantified estimate of risk. Godot Foundation Executive Director Emilio Coppola, who is based in Spain, told Ars: “We never felt super safe, but now we are not willing to risk it.” That is Coppola’s view, not a consensus finding among international developers.

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Orland’s report says some developers traced a sharper change in their feelings to the 2025 conference and the political climate surrounding travel to the United States. The report also describes how the 2020 conference was canceled amid COVID-19 concerns and how the subsequent period of virtual events led some developers to reconsider whether attending in person justified the trip. These are explanations offered by interviewees, not findings from a causal survey.

What safety support did GDC organizers offer?

According to the report, organizers offered a 24/7 safety hotline and visible security escorts for people who felt unsafe traveling around San Francisco. A GDC spokesperson said organizers were monitoring developments with local officials and legal experts. The report describes those measures but does not establish how any individual attendee’s concerns or travel decision would be resolved.

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What is known about international attendance?

A GDC representative told Ars Technica that international attendance at the 2025 event was strong and generally in line with prior cycles. The article provides no published attendance count alongside that characterization. It describes intentions and concerns ahead of GDC 2026, but does not count how many international developers planned to skip the event or how many ultimately did.

The evidence is interview-based: it supports reporting what named and anonymous sources said, but not a percentage, a claim that most international developers share these concerns, or a statistical comparison of travel risks. “Dozens” of people interviewed and “tens of thousands” of attendees gathering are descriptions in the report, not counts of people planning to skip GDC.

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Source and scope

This article is based on Kyle Orland’s reporting for Ars Technica, published March 9, 2026. The account concerns developers’ stated intentions and perceptions ahead of the 2026 conference; it should not be read as a forecast of attendance or as a general finding about the safety of travel to the United States or San Francisco.

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