As expected, the Game Developers Conference has a slight downturn in the number of attendees for the annual gathering of game industry professionals. According to GDC's parent company Think Services, the 2009 edition had over 17,000 people show up. That's down from an estimated 18,000 attendees from 2008.

Some might blame the economy for the small drop in attendance but it's also possible that the smaller amount was due to GDC's decision to make the event invite only for journalists who attended the event. The dates for the 2010 GDC have already been announced. It will be held on Tuesday, March 9 to Saturday, March 13 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.