The 2009 Game Developers Conference was a resounding success and a wonderful taste to be left in the mouth of gamers and industry professionals alike in anticipation for E3 in just a few months.‚  This year’s conference featured drama filled keynote addresses by Hideo Kojima and Satoru Iwata, as well as various other light but still very significant panels, lectures and tutorials from such industry heads as Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, Will Wright, creator of the Sims, and many, many others.

Just how many attended the annual conference?‚  Try over 17,000 professionals from a number of studios, media outlets, and elsewhere.‚  Compared to last year’s record breaking figure of 18,000 attendees and given the hurt the economy has placed on the industry, this years total attendance fell short of that mark, but is impressive nonetheless.

“The success of this past week in San Francisco proves the resilience of the games industry,” said event director Meggan Scavio. “It is a testament to the spirit of our more than 20 year old conference and community, and evidence of video games’ continued evolution into a mainstream form of entertainment, that the various constituents of the industry were able come together at GDC as they did [last] year.”

While many conferences are consolidating or closing up entirely, GDC 2010 is set to take place March 9^th-13^th at the usual Moscone Center venue in San Francisco CA.

via GamaSutra