Takes so hot that they were recorded late at night after a long day on the GDC floor, and couple whiskeys. Phil, Eric and Chris crew unpack what actually mattered at GDC 2026, and what didn’t.

We discuss:

• A sharper critique of industry thinking

  • Too many taxonomy talks, not enough opinions

  • Why game talks should behave more like economics seminars

• AI’s role on the show floor and conference

  • Shift from generative art hype to code generation and workflows

  • Why survey data understates actual usage and masks revealed preferences

  • AI present but muted, Web3 effectively gone

  • Novelty hardware, indie creativity, and a clear tech pullback

• The collapse of production costs and what replaces them

  • Near-zero fixed costs leading to infinite content supply

  • Discovery, marketing, and CAC as the new binding constraints

• Why incumbents may strengthen, not weaken

  • Ad spend and distribution advantages widening the moat

  • Counterpoint: new channels still create pockets of disruption

• Hardware, interfaces, and “convergent evolution”

  • Why controllers standardized and what that says about optimal design

  • Failed alternatives and the persistent friction of interaction