SAN FRANCISCO, March 18 (Xinhua) -- The 2019 Game Developers Conference (GDC) opened Monday in downtown San Francisco, featuring more than 1,000 speakers from industries and trending products from the world's top game companies.

Global game developers gathered at the world's largest event, which is running from March 18 to 22, to exchange expertise on cutting-edge gaming technology via nearly a week of about 800 lectures, roundtable discussions, and networking sessions.

Speakers from Media Molecule, Hello Games and Microsoft will talk about their experiences and challenges in game development, while experts from Harvard University's Desirability Lab, Walt Disney Imagineering, and San Francisco-based Niantic, Inc., the key developer of the augmented reality (AR) mobile game Pokemon Go, will give a series of mini-keynote speeches to inspire the audience.

During GDC 2019, the Virtual Reality Developers Conference (VRDC) will be staged for the attendees to have an opportunity to learn about Virtual Reality (VR) and AR in game development across disciplines such as design, production, programming, and visual art.

Among more than 550 exhibiting companies at the five-day event are some of the biggest names in electronic entertainment, including Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Capcom, Bungie, Epic Games, and Bethesda Softworks.

Major developers have brought their classic games, such as Command & Conquer, Paperboy, Lemmings, Spider-Man 2 and the Panzer Dragoon series to tens of thousands of visitors at the exhibit.

Internet powerhouse Google has shown a strong interest in the gaming industry for some time and wants to grab a share of the game market.

Media reports said Google is likely to unveil a new video game hardware for its Project Stream platform at GDC 2019.