Gaming conference leaving Austin

AUSTIN (KXAN) - International travel is one of the reasons Austin is losing one of its annual conventions.  The Game Development Conference (GDC), which began in Austin in 2003, is relocating to California next year.

Austin is largely considered an emerging market for game development, but several companies attend the conference from overseas and say flights in-and-out of town are tough.

"Definitely, you'll see a lot more participants in the GDC in Los Angeles or San Francisco because of that reason," said Dylan Robertson of Tokyo-based GMO Cloud.

But, companies from Europe disagree.

"Los Angeles is far more difficult for us to reach," said Ian Douthwaite of Dubit, which is based in the United Kingdom.  "Austin is a really, really good venue."

The GDC had 3,350 attendees in 2011, but it's not the only video game convention in Austin.  The South By Southwest Interactive festival in March attracts nearly 25-thousand people.

"South By Southwest Games is going to be a real thing," said John Henderson of the International Game Developers Association.  "They had a very good presentation at the Palmer Event Center last Spring."

Henderson also expects a new convention to replace the GDC in Fall 2013.

Game development brings $990-million in to Austin's economy each year and employs more than 72-hundred people.