The GAM3 Awards 2024 has revealed its final shortlist for a $5 million prize pool. Returning for its third year, the annual web3 gaming event will, for the first time, feature a physical ceremony held in the Philippines in partnership with Yield Guild Games (YGG).

The event serves as the grand finale for the YGG Play Summit, highlighting the Philippines’ significant role in the web3 gaming landscape. YGG Co-Founder Gabby Dizon stated,

“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 also partnered with Arbitrum, Magic Eden, Immutable, Avalanche, and Skale to enhance this year’s event. Since its inception in 2022, the GAM3 Awards have become a landmark in the blockchain gaming industry, recognizing top games and creators. The awards celebrate innovation 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. The ceremony was streamed online, attracting over 50,000 live viewers and peaking at more than 36,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch. Winners shared a prize pool of $2 million, with the web3 trading card game Parallel taking multiple awards, including “Game of the Year.”

GAM3S.GG Co-Founder and CEO Omar Ghanem remarked,

“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 include all categories from the previous edition and introduce two new ones: Best Ecosystem and Best Browser Game, bringing the total to 21 categories. The “Best Graphics” award returns under the new title “Best Art Direction” to honor creativity and unique art styles without overemphasizing high-fidelity graphics.

The GAM3 Awards will feature exclusive trailers and announcements from leading studios, offering attendees a preview of some of the most anticipated web3 games in development. These premieres have become fan favorites, with titles like Riftstorm debuting in previous editions.

Over 70 prominent figures from traditional and blockchain gaming will participate, including representatives from Amazon, Google, Samsung, Ubisoft, Animoca Brands, Immutable, Arbitrum, Blockchain Game Alliance, Base, Ronin, and Avalanche.

For most categories, the voting process assigns 90% of the final decision to the jury and 10% to the community, except for People’s Choice and Best Content Creator, which are entirely community-based. Shortlisted game studios voting for their favorite title determines the Games’ Choice award.

The nominees include seventeen blockchain networks, highlighting the industry’s diversity and innovation. The top five networks in the final shortlists are Immutable, Polygon, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Solana.

The Game of the Year finalists are Off The Grid, Pirate Nation, Parallel, Nyan Heroes, and Pixels. Voting begins on Oct. 15 and runs until Nov. 15 on GAM3S. GG’s platform. For the complete list of nominees, visit gam3awards.com.

This year’s prize pool has increased to $5 million, including grants, products, services, marketing, and blockchain support from partners such as AWS, XAI, Thirdweb, Aethir, and Community Gaming. This substantial increase highlights the event’s commitment to supporting the next generation of web3 games.

The GAM3 Awards 2024 aims to be the most significant event in web3 gaming to date. Attendees can look forward to exclusive content, major announcements, entertainment performances, and celebrating the creativity defining web3 gaming. The event is scheduled for Nov. 22.

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