Unity's Education Mixer 2026

Unity Education Mixer

March 12, 2026, Thursday | 6:30–8:30 pm

ecosystem
540 Howard St. San Francisco

Join the Unity Education Mixer at GDC 2026!

Connect with students, educators, and industry professionals at this networking-focused event. To help start the conversation, we’ll be kicking off with a fireside chat between Unity’s Will Goldstone and NYU’s Julian Togelius, where they’ll be discussing how AI is changing the trajectory of game development and how to get ahead of the curve.

•Discover Unity’s latest educational initiatives and AI-powered tools for learners

•Network with peers and experienced professionals from the games industry

•Learn best practices from experts and thought leaders about breaking into the industry

Whether you’re a student, educator, or professional in the gaming industry, this is your chance to engage, collaborate, and grow.

WHEN

Thursday, March 12, 2026

6:30–8:30 pm

WHERE

Ecosystem

540 Howard Street

San Francisco, CA 94105

JOIN US

Learn in real-time

Expand your knowledge and improve your projects with insight, advice, and best practices from Unity experts and local game creators.

Grow your network

It’s a multiplayer experience – connect with your gamedev peers, build new relationships, and explore opportunities to collaborate.

Spread the word

Excited about your latest project? Spotlight your hard work and share your successes (and challenges) with fellow devs and the Unity team.

Speakers

Speaker Name

Job Title

Company

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Job Title

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overview

6:30-7:00 PM

Doors open: Check-in and welcome

7:00-7:30 PM

Fireside chat with Will Goldstone and Julian Togelius

7:30-8:30 PM

Community networking and light bites

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Schedule(2 days/ 2 tracks)

Track 1/Day 1

9:30 am

Coffee and registration

Join us as we kick off a day of learning, networking, and inspiration.

10:00 am

Welcome and introductions

Joint welcome address by Unity Technologies and company.

Time

Session/Activity Name

Session Description

Speaker Name(s)

Track 2/Day 2

9:30 am

Coffee and registration

Join us as we kick off a day of learning, networking, and inspiration.

10:45 am

Networking break

Network with fellow Unity gamedevs and make key industry connections.

Time

Session/Activity Name

Session Description

Speaker Name

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Business Track

1 pm

State of Gaming - A Unity Perspective

Join Larry Hryb, Unity’s Community Director, for an updated look at the forces shaping the future of gaming. Building on last year’s insights, Larry will share fresh perspectives on emerging industry trends, evolving player expectations, and how developers can stay ahead of the curve. Get actionable strategies for navigating today’s fast-changing landscape, and end with a look at where we're headed next year.

Larry Hyrb, Unity

2 pm

Growth Unlocked: Player-First Monetization & Scalable UA for Studios of All Sizes

This session covers player-first monetization strategies that work across all mobile player types without compromising experience, then shows how to reinvest that revenue into targeted UA campaigns at scale. Using proprietary Unity data, you’ll get actionable ideas to build your growth loop – no matter your studio size.

Sandra Amir, Unity

3 pm

Thunder Lotus: 33 Immortals Game Balancing with Unity Analytics

How do you create an analytics framework to support game balancing and gameplay decisions? Game designer Cem Ertekin talks about 33 Immortals' journey in using Unity Gaming Services analytics tools to create a robust framework that answers the correct questions, is aware of its limitations, and is easily maintainable. The talk will refer to real case studies and data from 33 Immortals (both pre- and post- Early Access) to provide examples.

Cem Ertekin, Thunder Lotus

Rambod Kermanizadeh, Unity

Tech Track

1 pm

Graphics Optimization

Join Mike Geig, Senior Manager, Advocacy and Community to dive into the powerful graphics optimizations and tools in Unity 6.

Mike Geig, Unity

2 pm

Boosting Your Game Performance with Unity 6 Profiling Tools

Watch Ryan Warner, Senior Software Development Consultant, demonstrate the recommended profiling workflow in Unity 6. He’ll show you how to find expensive function calls in Timeline and how to master the Profile Analyzer to identify and diagnose slow frames. Learn how to optimize memory and capture and analyze allocations, assets, and duplicates with the Memory Profiler.

Ryan Warner, Unity

3 pm

Unity AI Demo

Discover the latest of Unity AI in the Engine.

Mike Geig, Unity

Fireside Chat

1 pm

Budge Studios: Theater System- A Framework for Async Loading

Introduces the Budge Theatre System, a reusable framework for asynchronous loading in Unity. It addresses challenges faced by Budge Studios in supporting older devices and managing large game sizes, offering an MVC-based solution built with Addressables to reduce load times and memory pressure. The presentation delves into the system's concepts, development issues, and future plans.

Donovan Sotnikow & Ian Girard, Budge Studios

2 pm

Hack'nStack + DOTS

Join Triple Boris As they showcase their innovative project, a performance-focused game built with Unity's cutting-edge tools. Discover how they utilized Unity’s Data-Oriented Technology Stack (DOTS) to achieve stable gameplay systems, even under heavy load, and optimized performance for the Nintendo Switch.
Alexandre Gareau, Triple Boris

3 pm

Nonprofit Partner Connections

SPEAKERS