Program Grows by 67% to Expand Access to the GDC Festival of Gaming for Emerging Developers Worldwide
Xsolla, a global commerce company, today announced the Xsolla Scholarship Program at GDC 2027. The program helps independent studio developers attend the GDC Festival of Gaming when travel and attendance costs would otherwise keep them away. The festival returns to the Moscone Center in San Francisco March 1-5, 2027, with a new Business Hall at Moscone West, built for meetings, partnerships, pitches, and investor conversations. Xsolla’s program puts more developers in the room for those conversations, along with five days of sessions, workshops, and networking with the global video games industry.
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Graphic: Xsolla
Building on the 45 developers it brought to the festival in 2026, Xsolla will maintain its Diamond-Level Sponsorship and expand its Scholarship Program to 75 recipients for 2027.
Scholarship recipients will receive:
- One Festival Pass to GDC Festival of Gaming 2027
- A four-night hotel stay (check-in March 1, 2027; check-out March 5, 2027) at a hotel selected by GDC Festival of Gaming
- Invitation to attend an Xsolla-hosted luncheon at Xsolla Clubhouse on Howard Street in San Francisco during GDC Festival of Gaming 2027
- Access to Xsolla events and networking sessions
- Introduction to the Xsolla Funding, Marketing, Integration, and Customer Success teams
- Exclusive swag and developer perks for their 2027 festival experience
The program is open to developers and studios worldwide with an active video game in development, from early concept to near launch. Applications are reviewed using Xsolla’s Developer Success Evaluation Framework, which weighs creativity and innovation, impact and potential, and professionalism and readiness. The final group of recipients will represent a range of early, mid, and near-release projects and will include underrepresented developers who might not otherwise have the chance to attend.
“Every developer deserves a chance to participate in the conversations and opportunities that define our industry’s future,” said Berkley Egenes, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer of Xsolla. “This program is a meaningful way for us to open doors for talented teams around the world and support the next generation of video game makers.”
Applications open October 16, 2026, and close November 30, 2026. All submissions must be completed by the deadline to be considered. Scholarship recipients will be notified by email and announced in January 2027, with final travel and event coordination completed ahead of the festival.
Developers can learn more and apply at: https://events.xsolla.com/gdcscholarship2027 or by visiting: https://xsolla.pro/gdcscholarship2027
About Xsolla
Xsolla is a global commerce company that builds and provides all the things developers need to launch, grow, and monetize video games. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, the company supports studios of every size, from indie to AAA, with solutions across direct-to-consumer commerce, intelligent payments, entertainment-based IP, and player engagement products. Xsolla helps developers fund, distribute, market, and monetize their games at scale. Trusted by more than 70% of the top 100 highest-grossing games, Xsolla operates as the merchant of record across 200+ geographies with access to 1,000+ local payment methods worldwide. Grounded in a deep belief in the future of video games, Xsolla is resolute in bringing opportunities together and unlocking growth for creators everywhere.
For more information, visit xsolla.com.
© 2026 Xsolla. All rights reserved.
About GDC Festival of Gaming
GDC Festival of Gaming is the world’s largest professional game industry event with market-defining content for programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision makers, and others involved in the development of interactive games and immersive experiences. GDC brings together the global game industry community year-round through events and digital media, including GDC Vault, GameDeveloper.com, Independent Games Festival, and the Game Developers' Choice Awards.
GDC is organized by Informa PLC, a leading B2B information services group and one of the leading B2B event organizers in the world.
To learn more and for the latest news and information, visit www.informa.com
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Contacts
Media Contact
Derrick Stembridge
Vice President of Global Public Relations, Xsolla
d.stembridge@xsolla.com
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