Josh Sawyer, director of Pentiment, has said that GDC has an accessibility problem.

As reported by Shacknews, he shared his thoughts on the event while accepting the GDC Best Narrative Award for Pentiment.

He noted concerns about travel costs and how accessible it is for people from overlooked communities.

Sawyer said, “There’s a big accessibility problem with this conference, and this has to do with compensation and helping people with travel arrangements. This is an expensive city…”

“There are a lot of people in this room who work with the advisory council. I would encourage you to keep pushing to help more people who don’t necessarily look like me, who have different experiences, to be able to come here and talk.”

Additionally, he said that the conference’s talks should be available to people who couldn’t travel to the event.

GamesIndustry.biz recently spoke with GDC leaders Stephanie Hawkins and Ashley Corrigan on the plans for this year. Among the topics discussed were the costs and accessibility of the conference.

“I understand it’s expensive – I live in San Francisco, it’s a very expensive city! GDC is a global community and the content we have should be accessible to the international audience,” said Hawkins.

“So it’s not a pressure, it’s more of a responsibility for us to figure out how to better reach people.”