Nikolas Sargeant
GAM3S.GG has revealed that the final shortlist of games for the GAM3 Awards 2023 is finally in. In a press release shared with Cryptowisser, the team said the biggest web3 gaming event returns on 14 December 2023 for the second year with games going head to head for bragging rights and a prize pool of over $2M
The company said they partnered with Magic Eden to ensure this year’s event is held. More than 70 traditional and web3 gaming experts will come together to decide the leading games in this space; with the event sponsored by AD Gaming.
At the start, 214 nominated games were presented in front of 70+ jury members to help produce the preliminary list of nominees. Some of the factors that were considered include gameplay, mechanics, replayability potential, "fun" factor, accessibility and overall quality. 40 shortlisted games have made it onto the next round which opens up for community voting today, November the 22nd.
The 214 games nominated in this year’s context is much higher than last year’s 106, reflecting the tremendous growth of web3 gaming throughout the past year.
The 40 shortlisted games spanned 9 blockchain networks, with Arbitrum making an awards debut this year with 4 shortlisted finalists. The top five networks represented in the final shortlists are Polygon, Ethereum, Immutable X, Arbitrum and Avalanche.
2023’s jury consists of executives and leaders from Amazon, Google, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Samsung, in addition to web3 gaming ecosystems, VCs, media outlets and content creators.
The team revealed that this year’s prize pool for the winning games exceeds $2M+ and ranges from cash grants, tech service credits, marketing support, sponsored tournaments, infrastructure support, cloud gaming functionality, and much more from a wide range of partners including Amazon, Magic Eden, AD Gaming, Ultra, Blockchain Gaming Alliance, Naavik, Aethir, and Horizon among others.
The 40 finalists will move to the second phase of the GAM3 Awards, where the decision-making process involves both jury members and public voting. In the second phase, the jury's votes have a 90% influence, while community votes will account for the remaining 10%.
In some categories like the ‘People’s Choice Award’ and ‘Best Content Creator’, the outcome relies solely on community votes. GAM3 revealed that both categories have already amassed over 50K nominations, giving the spotlight to 500+ games and 300+ creators from all over the world as fan favorites.
Furthermore, the ‘Games’ Choice Award’ is determined by shortlisted game studios voting for what is essentially, their own version of the game of the year.
While commenting on the event, George Yousling, Director of Business Development at Polygon Labs said,
“Despite the macro headwinds, I’m encouraged by high-quality games reaching open beta and early access. Games that are fun to play with fleshed-out core loops, tutorials, in-game economies, and progression systems. User flows that remove friction through account abstraction and help get players enjoying the experience upfront as opposed to clunky onboarding.”
This year, several games stood out to the jury as Big Time, Wildcard, Parallel and Deadrop shared the highest number of nominations with 5 each; followed by Illuvium and MetalCore with 4 nominations each, the team added.
Final GAM3 Awards To Be Livestreamed
The team revealed that the final GAM3 Awards live-streamed ceremony is scheduled for December 14th, 2023 to be hosted on Twitch, YouTube and X among other streaming platforms; with gameplay premiers and exclusive premieres trailers already confirmed from Star Atlas, The Unioverse, among other titles.
Finally, the event will reward community members, voters and viewers for their participation. Magic Eden is set to host an exclusive free mint for voters which provides early access to future mints, gaming raffles and exclusive quests.
Community voters and viewers will get the chance to win awards from a prize pool worth over $100k USD in prizes ranging from in-game items, early access passes, gaming PCs, gaming consoles and accessories.
Chris Akhavan, Chief Gaming Officer at Magic Eden said,
“We are thrilled to see over 200 web3 games nominated for the GAM3 Awards. Can’t wait to see who the winners will be on December 14th, and in the meantime, we all have a lot of playing to do!”
The Game of the Year final nominees are:
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Parallel
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Big Time
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Deadrop
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Wildcard
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NFL Rivals
GAM3 Awards is the industry’s leading web3 gaming awards. The event, first launched in 2022 and presented by GAM3S.GG, celebrates the highest quality web3 games, rewarding innovation and creativity at the intersection of blockchain and consumer entertainment.
Meanwhile, its partner for this year’s event, Magic Eden is the leading cross-chain NFT platform, building a user-friendly platform for minting and collecting NFTs. Magic Eden brings dynamic cultural moments onto the blockchain, empowering users across thousands of digital communities to create, discover and collect unique NFTs.
