The Grammys of Web3 gaming went down on the 15th of December 2022, with 16 winners taking home the crown. The prize winners will share a pool of over $1M worth of prizes!

Web3 game developers are now focusing on the ‘fun’ aspect of blockchain games, presenting ‘play-to-earn’ as an option. A great move to entice casual gamers to play Web3 games.

According to Polkastarter Gaming, they created the GAM3 Awards (pronounced ‘game’) ceremony to showcase the top Web3 games in the industry. Keyword ‘Web3 games’. The company itself pays tribute to blockchain technology which has been making amazing and revolutionary strides in gaming culture.

Sponsors for this inaugural awards were: Immutable X, Blockchain Game Alliance, Machinations, Ultra, Naavik, Galxe, Hacken, Venly, HackenProof, Shorooq, Elixir, Arcade and MetaCon.

Voting criteria, judges, and categories

A selected panel of judges or the jury consisting of 25+ of the top industry leaders, investors, and experts from the gaming landscape — both traditional and Web3, must have had a hard time selecting the winners.

Judges included: The legendary Yoshihisa Hashimoto (Co-Founder, Lv.99), Justin Kan (founder, Fractal) Urvit Goel (Head of Global Games, Polygon Studios), Sarutobi Sasuke (Head of Partnerships, YGG), Edward Chang (Head of Gaming, Avalanche), Matt Sorg (Head of Tech, Solana Foundation), Omar Ghanem (Head of Gaming & host of the GAM3 Awards 2022, Polkastarter), Jamie Wallace (Investment Team, Bitkraft Ventures), Brendan Wong (CEO, Avocado DAO), Jesper Lindquist (Senior Manager Web3 Gaming, Animoca Brands), John Izaguirre (BD Director, BNB Chain), Itai Elizur (Managing Partner, Marketacross), and Rachel Levin (Director of Venture & Strategy, ImmutableX), among others.

The team went through 250,000 community votes that spanned over the 32 nominated finalists for 16 Awards in total. Best Content Creator was the only non-game specific award.

Only 13 voting categories were open to both the jury and the community for voting on 23rd October 2022. The remaining 3 categories were open for nominations.

On the other hand, the Best Content Creator award, saw 23 unique Web3 gaming content creators being nominated.

Judging criteria for the Web3 games included core loops, graphics, accessibility replayability factor, fun elements, and overall gaming experience — all about the fun of the Web3 game, without any tokenomics. 

Best Co-host of the GAM3 Awards 2022 – Hooli of My Pet Hooligan

The 90 minutes LIVE stream kicked off with an introduction by Yoshihisa Hashimoto, a big name in both traditional and Web3 gaming.

GAM3 2022 Winners!

Drumrolls…🥁

Without further ado, here are all the winners of the first inaugural GAM3 Awards 2022:

• Best Graphics: Star Atlas
• Best Action Game: Superior
• Best Mobile Game: Thetan Arena
• Best Adventure Game: Big Time
• Best Casual Game: Blankos Block Party
• Best RPG: Illuvium
• Best Shooter Game: MetalCore
• Best Strategy Game: Gods Unchained
• Best Card Game: Gods Unchained
• Best Multiplayer Game: EV.io
• Best Esports Game: EV.io
• Game of the Year: Big Time
• Most Anticipated Game: Shrapnel
• Best Content Creator: Brycent
• People’s Choice Award: League of Kingdoms
• Games’ Choice Award: The Harvest

The Games’ Choice Award

Instead of the gaming community or jury voting, the organizers of GAM3 awards created a special category called the ‘Game’s Choice Award’. 

Game studios from around the world were asked to nominate their favorite Web3 game of 2022. The catch: they were not allowed to vote for web3 games developed by their team, but developed by their peers in the industry.

Of course, the various votes cast remains confidential, but it would have been something interesting to see.

Featured on buidlbee

More than half the games nominated and some winners of the GAM3 Awards 2022 have been featured on our website here. From Gods Unchained, Skyweaver, Axie Infinity and Spider Tanks, to Undead Blocks, Illuvium, Supreme and many more. 

Catch up on the latest news and trends in Web3 gaming at www.buidlbee.com.

A sentiment echoed by the CEOs, founders, producers and more who served as co-hosts announcing the winners, as well as representatives from the winning Web3 games, was that Web3 gaming is just getting started and has an incredibly bright future ahead.

Review of the first Web3 games awards 

The awards ‘ceremony’ was streamed on Twitch, YouTube, and Twitter. The stream was LIVE, however, save for the main host, the rest of the content was pre-recorded. Consequently, there were continuity issues. 

For example, after the Best Graphics Award winner (CEO of ATMTA) gave their appreciation speech, the next co-host from the Polkastarter Gaming team refers to the Best Shooter Award instead of graphics award. 

Nonetheless, the stream was a delight to watch and it was exciting to see exclusive gameplay trailers from upcoming Web3 games in 2023.

• Nitro Nation World Tour — Mobile racing game
• Chronos
• Cards of Ethernity (Nominated for Best Card Game and Best Strategy Game)
• BR1
• Elarium
• Mighty Action Heroes
• The Beacon
• Fableborne
• Safrootics (World Calamity)
• Desperado B218

Why Web3 gaming?

Another segment included towards the end of the GAM3 Awards was a question they posed to Web3 game studios. “What are your genuine thoughts on Web3 gaming and why did you choose to work in this industry?”

The answers, were inspiring:

It’s a blank canvas for us to reshape gaming | Web3 gaming rewards players for their time and passion | Web3 gaming was the innovation needed to change the perception on non-gamers | It’s the ability to build in public with your community | It’s the beginning of a new movement in gaming and we’re at the forefront of it | Because blockchain technology can solve problems the gaming industry has been struggling with for decades.

How can I make money on this?

The awards was a true showcase and celebration of all the top Web3 games in the industry. The team at Polkastarter Gaming hope to make the GAM3 Awards 2023 a physical event.  

Since the announcement of the historic awards ceremony, several easter eggs were hidden in the official Twitter page for followers. This was followed by another one during the LIVE stream. Those who picked up on all the hidden items, were rewarded by the team, and revealed in their discord community page. 

High expectations have been set for next year’s awards show with a bigger price pool for web3 games winners and bigger/better rewards for players worldwide.

Follow GAM3 Awards news and updates on their website at http://gam3awards.com/ or check out their Twitter page here.

Let us know in the comments below which games you think deserved to win this year and share your thoughts about the GAM3 Awards 2022.