Mythic's Barnett rails against GDC's 'peacock display'

With the demise of E3 proper some two years ago, there's been a tectonic shift in the way games are announced, developed, and shown off. Where once the entire development year revolved around having a polished trailer or playable demo available at the conference in May, the burden has shifted a bit. One of the events that has really assumed some of the burden up to this point has been the Game Developers Conference, an annual event where game developers get together to network, discuss design philosophy, and occasionally show off their wares.

According to Mythic'sPaul Barnett, that might be less worthwhile than it sounds. For long-time attendees like himself, the conference is the repetition of a tired, old "peacock display," where people come to argue about the same things they've always argued about. For someone in his position, nothing productive stands to get accomplished. While our gut feeling was to dispute the point, his argument isn't entirely unfounded. The difference, we suppose, is that as outsiders we rather enjoy the peacock display.