[Achshar]

this amount includes the gadgets that they give to people. last year there were three if i remember correctly. one was for game devs only.

[zer0her0]

There were bunches of gadgets given out @ every IO, some to everyone, some to attendees of specific talks.

Also, said developers are planning to make money with these new skills, in addition to networking, I think most people find it well worth it or they wouldn't attend.