GAM3 Awards 2024: Final Shortlist Revealed for $5M Prize Pool

It’s that time of the year, gamers! 

The highly anticipated GAM3 Awards returns for the third year in a row and it’s shaping up to be even bigger than ever. The annual web3 gaming celebration main event is set to reach new heights with more exciting game developments, more rewards, new award categories, and for the first time ever - a physical ceremony alongside the livestream which had over 50,000 viewers tune in last year.

GAM3S.GG has partnered with Yield Guild Games (YGG), one of the world’s largest networks of web3 gamers, to bring the GAM3 awards ceremony physically for the first time. The event, which will be held and live-streamed directly from the Philippines, as the grand finale for the YGG Play Summit, is a strong testament to the country's significance in the web3 gaming landscape, with many of the industry’s earliest adopters and most passionate communities based in the country.

YGG Co-Founder Gabby Dizon, commented: “The YGG Play Summit is about the gamers, first and foremost. It’s the biggest web3 gaming consumer event of the year. This is why we’re so excited to host the 2024 GAM3 Awards here in Manila. The real players of all the hottest web3 games will be there to vote and cheer for their favorite titles.”

GAM3S.GG has additionally partnered with Arbitrum, Magic Eden, Immutable, Avalanche, and Skale to make this year’s event even bigger and better than previous years. 

Originally launched in 2022, the GAM3 Awards have quickly become a landmark event within the blockchain gaming industry highlighting the top games and creators over the past two years. By recognizing and celebrating outstanding titles and creators, the awards highlight innovation and excellence across various genres and criteria, such as art direction and the most anticipated games. In 2023, the event saw over 450,000 votes cast from 50,000 unique voters, further showcasing the community's role during the selection process. 

The annual event—referred to by some as "the Grammys of Web3 Gaming"—was streamed online and achieved further widespread success in 2023, with over 50,000 live viewers, peaking at 36,000+ CCV on Twitch alone, and over 250,000 views in the first 24 hours post-broadcast. The event’s winners shared a prize pool of USD 2 million, with the web3 trading card game Parallel taking home the most wins, including “Game of the Year.”

GAM3S.GG Co-Founder and CEO Omar Ghanem, commented: “This is the third year we run these awards, and we really wanted to do something special this time. The Philippines has long been one of the main hubs for web3 gaming, and some of the earliest adopters and most passionate community members are based right here. That’s why it only feels right that our first ever physical version of the GAM3 Awards takes place at the heart of Manila — the heart of web3 gaming.”

This year’s awards see the return of all categories from the previous installation and the addition of two new ones: Best Ecosystem and Best Browser Game - to make it 21 categories in total. In addition, last year’s “Best Graphics” award returns under a more fitting title: “Best Art Direction” to celebrate the creativity and unique art style of game titles without excessively emphasizing high-fidelity graphics. 

As always, the GAM3 Awards will feature exclusive trailers and announcements from leading studios, offering attendees a sneak peek at some of the most anticipated web3 games in development. These premieres have quickly become fan favorites, with titles such as Riftstorm making their debut appearance in previous editions. This makes the event more than just a celebration of the past year; it is also an exciting glimpse into what’s coming next.

This year’s event features over 70 prominent traditional and blockchain gaming figures, with many returning jurors from previous ceremonies. The diverse panel includes representatives from powerhouses such as Amazon, Google, Samsung, Ubisoft, Animoca Brands, Immutable, Arbitrum, Blockchain Game Alliance, Base, Ronin, and Avalanche, as well as content creators and major media outlets such as VentureBeat and Decrypt.

Much like previous years, the voting process will see the jury’s votes represent 90% of the final decision, with the community making up the remaining 10% for most categories except People’s Choice and Best Content Creator, which are both 100% community voting-based, and Games’ Choice, which is based on shortlisted game studios voting for their favorite title game.

With 17 blockchain networks represented, the diversity and innovation showcased by the nominees highlight the dynamic evolution of the gaming landscape. The top five networks represented in the final shortlists are Immutable, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Solana.

The Game of the Year finalist nominees are Off The Grid, Pirate Nation, Parallel, Nyan Heroes, and Pixels. For the full list of nominees, visit gam3awards.com. Final voting starts October 15 and runs until November 15, directly on GAM3S.GG’s platform on the GAM3 Awards page.

In addition, among the exciting updates for the 2024 GAM3 Awards is the increased $5 million prize pool, which consists of grants, products, services, marketing, and blockchain support from partners such as AWS, XAI, Thirdweb, Aethir, and Community Gaming among others to help finalists and winners grow even further. This represents a substantial increase from previous years and underscores the event's commitment to supporting and fostering the next generation of web3 games. 

This year’s GAM3 Awards is poised to be the most significant event in web3 gaming yet. It's not just an awards ceremony but a grand celebration of the entire industry, showcasing the best games, studios, and innovators in the space. Whether in-person or online, attendees can look forward to an unforgettable experience filled with exclusive content, major announcements, entertainment performances and a celebration of the creativity that defines web3 gaming.

The event further solidifies its role as the premier event for web3 gaming. With a growing prize pool, a star-studded jury, exciting new reveals, and all-round entertainment value, the 2024 GAM3 Awards is set to be a defining moment in this rapidly evolving industry. Make sure to votefor your favorite games and creators today and mark your calendar for November 22—it’s an event no one in the web3 gaming world will want to miss!

About GAM3S.GG

GAM3S.GG is a web3 gaming superapp with over 1M+ registered users that curates and creates content to spotlight the top games and showcase reviews, guides, news, quests, annual awards, and more. 

GAM3S.GG has built the #1 web3 gaming discovery platform over the past 3 years, as they continue to grow into the one-stop-shop for web3 gaming to help onboard millions of gamers, allowing them to engage with blockchain-powered games in unprecedented ways and becoming the ultimate bookmark on every gamer’s device. For more information: www.gam3s.gg

About Yield Guild Games

Yield Guild Games (YGG) is a Web3 Guild Protocol that enables players and gaming guilds to find their community, discover games and level up together. Its mission is to become the leading community-based user acquisition platform in web3 gaming.

As a network of gaming guilds focused on web3 games, YGG is committed to providing opportunities for its members to achieve success in web3 gaming through questing initiatives such as Superquests and the Guild Advancement Program (GAP). These enable members to build their onchain identity through its achievement-based reputation system.

From its roots in the Philippines to its global network of regional guilds and partnerships with over 100 blockchain games and infrastructure projects, YGG caters to an ever-expanding community of gamers and blockchain enthusiasts.

About YGG Play Summit

The YGG Play Summit explores the intersection of gaming and the emerging web3 ecosystem, featuring a hackathon, a conference, a game expo, and esports tournaments. It features opportunities for attendees to connect and provide valuable insights into the future of gaming, digital ownership, and the top projects of web3 globally.

The conference focuses on the business of Web3 gaming and the future of the gaming industry. Speakers include founders and C-level executives from venture funds, crypto exchanges, protocols, and web3 wallets, alongside gaming studios, esports teams, guilds, and the gaming community.

Disclaimer: Press release sponsored by our commercial partners.