GDC 2025: Building for Mixed Reality, Meta Horizon Worlds and more

The annual Game Developers Conference (GDC) is just a few days away! As one of the games industry’s leading events, GDC is an epicenter for developers of all backgrounds, skill levels and areas of expertise to connect, be creative, get inspired, and get the inside scoop on the latest opportunities.

This year, we’re delighted to host 12 speaker sessions that dive deep into topics like mixed reality, Meta Horizon Worlds, analytics, AI, game design and monetization. This includes an all day developer summit on Tuesday that’s open to everyone with an expo pass. Join us to hear from our product experts and industry leaders as they unpack new advancements in tooling, share emerging trends in the Meta Horizon OS ecosystem, offer strategies to grow your business, and lead crash courses on concepts and integration.

Whether you’re new to Horizon OS or an expert looking to broaden your knowledge, be sure to stop by our booth to connect with our team and ask our experts any burning questions you have about VR, mixed reality or Horizon Worlds development. Here’s a sneak peek of what you can look forward to at our booth:

Next, explore some of this year’s session highlights and get ready for a week full of community, learning and valuable insights. To learn about more sessions with Meta at GDC, check out the official event agenda. If you aren’t able to attend, stay tuned on X and Facebook for updates and links to blog posts recapping our sessions.

Speaker: Chris Pruett (Director of Games)

When: Wednesday, March 19 / 2PM - 3PM PST / West Hall, Room 2011

The market for VR and MR games is now larger than it has ever been, and as the technology has gained more mainstream traction, customer behaviors have begun to change. In this session Chris Pruett, Director of Games at Meta, will discuss what's up with VR and MR today, how the market has changed, and where it is going in the next few years.

Attendees will come away with a greater understanding of the current Quest audiences and the entire Horizon ecosystem, from audience behaviors, ecosystem shifts, lessons learned, and an overview of advancements in mixed reality technology, including the role of Horizon Worlds in Meta's long-term vision.

Speakers: Dilmer Valecillos (Developer Advocate), Mike Lamprinos (Product Manager), and Ionut Zolti (Software Engineering Manager)

When: Tuesday, March 18 / 9:30AM - 10:30AM PST / West Hall, Room 2011

Are you ready to unlock the full potential of Meta Quest? Join Dilmer Valecillos, Mike Lamprinos, and Ionut Zolti on a journey from project setup to an XR app in under an hour.

In this fast-paced session, we'll cover Meta's mixed reality capabilities and SDKs that will let you create truly immersive experiences you cannot create on a flatscreen. We'll delve into hand and body tracking, intuitive interactions, and audio and haptics for a more immersive experience.

Our expert-led crash course will take you on a journey from understanding the concepts to practical implementation. You'll learn everything you need to get started building XR on Meta Quest and be able to apply your new skills to develop your next title in VR or MR.

Speakers: Jordan Thiel (Product Manager)

When: Tuesday, March 18 / 10:50AM - 11:50AM PST / West Hall, Room 2011

In this session, participants will engage in a comprehensive, step-by-step workshop designed to guide them through the process of creating a world in Meta Horizon from scratch using the Meta Horizon Worlds desktop editor. This powerful tool, similar to Unity, offers an integrated game development environment that simplifies world-building with intuitive keyboard and mouse controls on Windows PC rather than a VR headset.

Attendees will explore the editor's capabilities, including adding and adjusting objects, incorporating elements like shapes, sounds and colliders, and utilizing features such as quests, leaderboards, TypeScript scripting, AI tools for generating code snippets and sound effects, along with real-time changes, debugging, and seamless world publishing.

The session will also feature a Creator Panel, where top creators will share their experiences and tips on building with the desktop editor on mobile and in MR.

Speakers: Kimberly Unger (Content Sourcing and Strategy Lead) and developer panel

When: Thursday, March 20 / 2:30PM - 3:00 PM PST / West Hall, Room 2009

Listen to our panel of leaders from top performing games on the Meta Horizon Store talk about their road to success. We will get their take on topics ranging from the need for community building to help drive success to the kinds of business decisions that brought their studio's game to the top of the charts. By now you know that Kimberly doesn't pitch softballs, and our panelists always drop valuable insights. Come learn from some of today's best in VR and mixed reality.

We can’t wait to see you there and connect about all the exciting developments and opportunities with us! Don’t forget to subscribe to the developer newsletter in your Developer Dashboard settings for monthly highlights and tips shared from events like GDC.