<p>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.</p><p>We discuss:</p><ul><li><p>A sharper critique of industry thinking</p><ul><li><p>Too many taxonomy talks, not enough opinions</p></li><li><p>Why game talks should behave more like economics seminars</p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p>AI’s role on the show floor and conference</p><ul><li><p>Shift from generative art hype to code generation and workflows</p></li><li><p>Why survey data understates actual usage and masks revealed preferences</p></li><li><p>AI present but muted, Web3 effectively gone</p></li><li><p>Novelty hardware, indie creativity, and a clear tech pullback</p></li></ul></li><li><p>The collapse of production costs and what replaces them</p><ul><li><p>Near-zero fixed costs leading to infinite content supply</p></li><li><p>Discovery, marketing, and CAC as the new binding constraints</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Why incumbents may strengthen, not weaken</p><ul><li><p>Ad spend and distribution advantages widening the moat</p></li><li><p>Counterpoint: new channels still create pockets of disruption</p></li></ul></li><li><p>Hardware, interfaces, and “convergent evolution”</p><ul><li><p>Why controllers standardized and what that says about optimal design</p></li><li><p>Failed alternatives and the persistent friction of interaction</p></li></ul></li></ul>