13 years ago, veteran game dev John Carmack took the stage at the 2004 Game Developers Conference to talk about where the industry was at, and what he found challenging and inspiring about game development.

Video of his talk has been hard to find online -- until now. It's well worth watching, for at least two reasons: it sheds light on where the game industry was at in 2004, a year that saw the release of seminal works like World of Warcraft, Half-Life 2, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and of course id Software's own Doom 3.

This was also a talk that Carmack prepared specifically for game developers, one that spoke directly to the changing nature of the game industry and the challenges devs were facing as they tried to adapt to new tech. 

It's an insightful slice of game dev history, one that you can now watch for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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