The GAM3 Awards are the first of their kind and have already attracted the attention of some of the biggest names in the web3 gaming sector. Polkastarter Gaming will be hosting the event on December 15 to award the top web3 games of the year based on votes from industry professionals and the community.
In all, there are 16 awards up for grabs, and they’re all going to deserving web3 game and content makers. Justin Kan, Founder of Fractal; Urvit Goel, Head of Global Games at Polygon Studios; Itai Elizur Managing Partner at Market Across; Rachel Levin, Director of Venture & Strategy at ImmutableX and Matt Sorg, Head of Technology at Solana Foundation, are among the judges who will decide which studios win awards.
Ex-Square Enix CTO Yoshihisa Hashimoto, who oversaw the production of Sonic: Unleashed and Final Fantasy XIV Online, and ex-Senior Director of Partnerships at Electronic Arts (Edward Chang) are just two of the many gaming industry heavy hitters on the all-star jury. There are a number of high-ranking alums of companies including Electronic Arts, Riot Games, Zynga, Xbox Game Studios, Amazon Gaming, and Unity Technologies on the jury, including:
- Sarutobi Sasuke, Head of Partnerships at YGG
- Dan Patterson, General Partner at Sfermion
- Brendan Wong, CEO at Avocado DAO
- Jesper Lindquist, Senior Manager Web3 Gaming at Animoca Brands
- Marco van den Heuvel, Co-Founder & CEO at Merit Circle
- David Hanson, Founder & CEO at Ultra
- John Izaguirre, BD Director at BNB Chain
- Abhimanyu Kumar, Co-Founder at Naavik
- Nathan N., Co-Founder at Ancient8
The GAM3 Awards were created to celebrate the finest web3 games and to demonstrate blockchain’s positive impact on the gaming industry; they will be aired live on the Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter channels of Polkastarter Gaming. To guarantee a fair and comprehensive voting procedure, the event will involve a jury of over 30 gaming and web3 thought leaders, ecosystem partners, and media outlets.
Winners of the first GAM3 Awards will get not just fame and glory, but also prizes totaling $300,000 from companies including Immutable X, Blockchain Game Alliance, Machinations, Naavik, and Ultra. The event will highlight the top games available on the web3 platform and award the creators that work tirelessly to provide innovative and engaging games.
The categories for “Best” awards are as follows: action game, mobile game, adventure game, casual game, RPG, shooter game, graphics, strategy game, card game, multiplayer game, esports game, graphics, and content creator. The Most Anticipated Game, the Games’ Choice, and the People’s Choice will all get prizes, with additional categories planned for future editions.
The jury’s decision will count for 90%, while the remaining 10% will be determined by community vote. Only the People’s Choice and Best Content Creator categories will be voted solely by the community, while the Games’ Choice category will be decided by game companies voting for their own version of Game of the Year. Midway through November, Polkastarter Gaming will open its website for public voting in anticipation of the final results being announced in December, after the jury has announced its nominated shortlist by announcing its top five picks in each category.
The core loop, graphics, accessibility, replayability factor, fun elements, and overall playing experience, are all going to be considered by the jury. In order to be considered for the prizes, games must include and make use of blockchain technology without compromising the quality of the core gaming experience.
Justin Kan, Founder of Fractal, the awards’ content partner stated:
“We are excited to partner with Polkastarter Gaming on this event, it is truly a step in the right direction for the industry, and the first of its kind in web3 gaming.”
The event also aims to honor the next generation of web3 gaming creators by encouraging game studios to submit nominations of their own employees, developers, and professionals from all fields who they believe best represent the future of web3 gaming and deserve to be included in the first “GAM3 Changers” list.
The GAM3 Awards are designed to shine a light on cutting-edge web3 gaming and demonstrate the actual potential of blockchain technology integration without compromising the games’ quality.
Omar Ghanem, Head of Gaming at Polkastarter stated:
“We called it the “GAME” awards, with a 3, to keep the focus on the actual games themselves, get rid of the web3 jargon and negative connotation, while still paying tribute to the underlying web3 tech that we believe will help shape the future of gaming.”
Given the scope of the event and the ambitious nature of the initiative as shown by the high-caliber, internationally-representative judges and partners, these awards have the potential to become yearly rituals for the sector as a whole.
