GDC 2026: How Samsung and Global Game Studios Are Redefining the Game Experience


At the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Festival of Gaming 2026 from March 9-13 in San Francisco at the Moscone Center, developers, technical leaders, and industry experts gathered to see how the latest display breakthroughs are reshaping the PC gaming experience.

During the event, Samsung Electronics also showcased its latest Odyssey gaming monitors and technologies at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. Samsung brought together gaming industry leaders, enthusiasts, and media to get a firsthand look at the Odyssey gaming monitor lineup and to play some of the hottest titles on PC, including “Cyberpunk 2077” and “Hell is Us.”

Running throughout the week, the Samsung Odyssey Gaming Lounge became a playground for PC visuals, complete with groundbreaking demos, unscripted reactions, and candid conversations about what comes next for advanced gaming displays.

Developers See What Glasses-Free 3D Can Do for Gameplay

The centerpiece of the showcase was Odyssey 3D. Using advanced eye-tracking and view-mapping technology, the monitor delivers a glasses-free 4K 3D display that adjusts depth in real time as players move in front of the screen. This delivers a completely new, immersive way to experience gameplay.

Developers, media, and partners lined up to try the thriller “Hell is Us” from Rogue Factor in 3D on the 27-inch Odyssey 3D (G90XF), ahead of its public availability on Samsung’s 3D gaming library.

“Samsung has been the leading force for 3D gaming. I play everything from horror to FPS games, and the technology is really going to enhance my experience.”

— Ashley Rodgers, gaming content creator

“Hell is Us” drew a large crowd, with excited visitors eager to experience the game’s tight corridors, distant silhouettes and small environmental cues in glasses-free 3D. On Odyssey, visitors said it was easier to read where to go and feel the adrenaline and fear of each encounter without losing the game’s sense of mystery.

“Cronos: The New Dawn” showcased a different side of 3D gaming through a launch trailer. The added depth on screen makes every moment feel more immersive and enhances the player’s sense of scale and atmosphere.

Samsung knows games and the brains of the developers, and that is something hardware companies don’t often know.

— Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, Creative Director, Rogue Factor

Next-Generation Displays Draw Attention From Technical Leaders

HDR10+ GAMING quickly became a talking point in the room. Instead of relying on trial-and-error calibration screens, developers watched the game feed send scene-by-scene information to the monitor so highlights, shadows, and color stayed closer to what they see in their own builds.

Developers and media also gravitated toward the 32‑inch Odyssey G8 6K (G80HS), testing how higher resolution affects UI and environmental detail. In busy scenes with dense 4K UHD elements, the extra pixels helped keep fine elements sharp without forcing changes to the game’s core art style.

On the 27-inch Odyssey G6 (G60H), the focus shifted to speed. With a 1,040Hz refresh rate, visitors looked at how fast camera pans, aiming and rapid inputs felt onscreen, and what that might mean for future competitive and high-performance titles.

With our proven track record in hardware and software innovation, we’re partnering with global gaming studios to chart a clear path forward on compatibility. Ultimately, that’s about delivering an exceptional gaming experience our customers deserve.

— Kevin Lee, EVP of Customer Experience, Visual Display (VD) Business, Samsung Electronics

A separate roundtable brought together leaders from across the industry, including Jakub Knapik, VP of Art and Global Art Director of CD Projekt RED; Yves Bordeleau, Founder and Head of Studio at Rogue Factor; Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, Creative Director at Rogue Factor; Piotr Babieno, Founder and CEO of Bloober Team; and Samsung’s EVP of Customer Experience, Kevin Lee.

Up-and-coming studios spoke about using new display technology to experiment and take creative risks, while larger publishers focused on setting standards that can scale across multiple genres and platforms. The group compared how they roll out new display features across engines and franchises — from integrating HDR10+ GAMING and 3D to deciding which features make sense for competitive games versus story-driven titles.

I honestly think HDR10+ is a major milestone in color reproduction, one that we’ve all been waiting for. Thanks to it, players will be able to experience our true artistic intent — not to mention a far more immersive high dynamic range.

— Jakub Knapik, VP of Art and Global Art Director, CD Projekt RED

For industry leaders, seeing their own content firsthand on Odyssey gaming monitors turned abstract specs into real trade-offs they could see and judge on screen. Samsung’s GDC 2026 showcase made it easier to evaluate which combinations of glasses-free 3D, HDR10+ GAMING, resolution, and refresh rate will matter most for the game developers are building now.

Samsung’s gaming momentum shows no signs of slowing. With “Hell is Us” and “Cronos: The New Dawn” joining a library that already spans 60+ titles, including “The First Berserker: Khazan,” “Stellar Blade,” and “Lies of P: Overture,” the company is on track to double its 3D game portfolio to over 120 titles by the end of 2026.

As developer partnerships deepen and consumer interest accelerates, Samsung is positioned to lead next-generation gaming through its comprehensive suite of monitor technologies, from 3D depth and dynamic HDR10+ GAMING to high-resolution 6K capability.



Source link

Leave a Reply

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get our latest articles delivered straight to your inbox. No spam, we promise.

Recent Reviews


Smartphones have amazing cameras, but I’m not happy with any of them out of the box. I have to tweak a few things. If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone, these settings won’t magically transform your main camera into an entirely new piece of hardware, but it can put you in a position to capture the best photos your phone can muster.

Turn on the composition guide

Alignment is easier when you can see lines

Grid lines visible using the composition guide feature in the Galaxy Z Fold 6 camera app. Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek

Much of what makes a good photo has little to do with how many megapixels your phone puts out. It’s all about the fundamentals, like how you compose a shot. One of the most important aspects is the placement of your subject.

Whether you’re taking a picture of a person, a pet, a product, or a plant, placement is everything. Is the photo actually centered? Or, if you’re trying to cultivate more visual interest, are you adhering to the rule of thirds (which is not to suggest that the rule of thirds is an end-all, be-all)? In either case, having an on-screen grid makes all the difference.

To turn on the grid, tap on the menu icon and select the settings cog. Then scroll down until you see Composition guide and tap the toggle to turn it on.

Going forward, whenever you open your camera, you will see a Tic Tac Toe-shaped grid on your screen. Now, instead of merely raising your phone and snapping the shot, take the time to make sure everything is aligned.

Take advantage of your camera’s max resolution

Having more pixels means you can capture more detail

I have a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. The camera hardware on my book-style foldable phone is identical to that of the Galaxy S24 released in the same year, which hasn’t changed much for the Galaxy S25 or the Galaxy S26 released since. On each of these phones, however, the camera app isn’t taking advantage of the full 50MP that the main lens can produce. Instead, photos are binned down to 12MP. The same thing happens even if you have the 200MP camera found on the Galaxy S26 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Fold 7.

To take photos at the maximum resolution, open the camera app and look for the words “12M” written at either the top or side of your phone, depending on how you’re holding it. The numbers will appear right next to the indicator that toggles whether your flash is on or off. For me, tapping here changes the text from 12M to 50M.

Photo resolution toggle in the camera app of a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek

But wait, we aren’t done yet. To save storage, your phone may revert back to 12MP once you’re done using the app. After all, 12MP is generally enough for most quick snaps and looks just fine on social media, along with other benefits that come from binning photos. But if you want to know that your photos will remain at a higher resolution when you open the camera app, return to camera settings like we did to enable the composition guide, then scroll down until you see Settings to keep. From there, select High picture resolutions.

Use volume keys to zoom in and out

Less reason to move your thumb away from the shutter button

Using volume keys to zoom in the camera app on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek

Our phones come with the camera icon saved as one of the favorites we see at the bottom of the homescreen. I immediately get rid of this icon. When I want to take a photo, I double-tap the power button instead.

Physical buttons come in handy once the app is open as well. By default, pressing the volume keys will snap a photo. Personally, I just tap the shutter button on the screen, since my thumb hovers there anyway. In that case, what’s something else the volume keys can do? I like for them to control zoom. I don’t zoom often enough to remember whether my gesture or swipe will zoom in or out, and I tend to overshoot the level of zoom I want. By assigning this to the volume keys, I get a more predictable and precise degree of control.

To zoom in and out with the volume keys, open the camera settings and select Shooting methods > Press Volume buttons to. From here, you can change “Take picture or record video” to “Zoom in or out.”

Adjust exposure

Brighten up a photo before you take it

Exposure setting in the camera app on a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. Credit: Bertel King / How-To Geek

The most important aspect of a photo is how much light your lens is able to take in. If there’s too much light, your photo is washed out. If there isn’t enough light, then you don’t have a photo at all.

Exposure allows you to adjust how much light you expose to your phone’s image sensor. If you can see that a window in the background is so bright that none of the details are coming through, you can turn down the exposure. If a photo is so dark you can’t make out the subject, try turning the exposure up. Exposure isn’t a miracle worker—there’s no making up for the benefits of having proper lighting, but knowing how to adjust exposure can help you eke out a usable shot when you wouldn’t have otherwise.

To access exposure, tap the menu button, then tap the icon that looks like a plus and a minus symbol inside of a circle.

From this point, you can scroll up and down (or side to side, if holding the phone vertically) to increase or decrease exposure. If you really want to get creative, you can turn your photography up a notch by learning how to take long exposure shots on your Galaxy phone.


Help your camera succeed

Will changing these settings suddenly turn all of your photos into the perfect shot? No. No camera can do that, even if you spend thousands of dollars to buy it. But frankly, I take most of my photos for How-To Geek using my phone, and these settings help me get the job done.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 on a white background.

Brand

Samsung

RAM

12GB

Storage

256GB

Battery

4,400mAh

Operating System

One UI 8

Connectivity

5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4

Samsung’s thinnest and lightest Fold yet feels like a regular phone when closed and a powerful multitasking machine when open. With a brighter 8-inch display and on-device Galaxy AI, it’s ready for work, play, and everything in between.




Source link