BGA at GDC: An Epic Week for Web3 Gaming!

GDC was an epic week and three days of talking with industry leaders from across the gaming industry. BGA hosted a booth inviting over 20 members over the course of three days with game demos, projects, and activations (did you get your BGA POAP?) and loot boxes. It was a veritable hive of activity and became a hub for web3 gaming professionals to find each other, members to connect, make new contacts, and enable conference attendees to get their hands on the latest games integrating blockchain technology.

“Collaborating with BGA for our side event at GDC in San Francisco was an absolute pleasure. The turnout was fantastic, and the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement. Working alongside BGA was seamless; they were incredibly organized, friendly, and their attention to detail was remarkable. Together, we created engaging content for our social media and had a great time. Looking forward to future collaborations with BGA!”
Guillermo De Torres Alemany, Product Manager | Elixir Games

“What a full week of events with the BGA! The combination of the GDC booth and the side event proved to be hugely successful. Once again, the BGA gathered a great group of people from the gaming and blockchain worlds. I’m looking forward to partnering with the BGA throughout the year as we bridge the gap with traditional gaming.”
Nicholas Douzinas, CEO | Polkadot Play

“This is SKALE’s second event with BGA in 2024, and as proud members of the BGA, each event has been nothing short of amazing! Thanks to BGA, SKALE is building a deeper connection with the blockchain gaming community as well as growing its market awareness. WAST3D at GDC was the best event yet!”
Spring Dunn, Senior Director of Marketing | SKALE Labs

Key Takeaways

• Game design has evolved and can now be played alongside traditional games without suffering in quality or fun factor. This is what makes blockchain even more interesting than ever before, as UX can now be unhampered by web3 elements popping up throughout the game. The playing field is starting to level out, and integrating web3 enables user experiences and rewards like never before.

• With other large chains such as Avalanche, Abritrum and side events with Immutable, Solana and others, it is clear that we are here to stay. All web3 events were well attended, demonstrating the subtle shift of acceptance when the games industry is facing challenges amidst a current rise in crypto which attracts attention back to web3 gaming – with our ecosystem advancing rapidly, traditional game devs are pleasantly surprised!

• And yes, we said it before, but it stands truer than ever – Web3 gaming is inevitable! During the many conversations at the booth, even among those who have not adopted, this phrase came up again and again…and we are here for it!

More Key takeaways from BGA members:

• “Play-to-airdrop campaigns are going to be huge. Mass adoption will come when the technology becomes seamless for gamers.”

• “Web3 unlocks unique UA strategies, deeper engagement and enhanced player retention via collectibles and rewards, and new monetization models—all while empowering players with new play experiences.”

A Summary of Events
Where to start recapping such a crazy week of events, with some many activities taking place in such a short space of time – so, let’s go with a day-by-day breakdown – and for BGA, it started on Monday morning as we headed to PGC, prior to our EPIC three days at the GDC Booth, and action-packed side events!

Monday and Tuesday – Pocket Gamer Connects
The conference began the moment BGA arrived in San Francisco. PGC was first on the agenda, joining Ready.gg at the booth and exploring the latest in mobile gaming. While there was not a great deal of web3 presence, the floor was abuzz with games, related products and services, and lots of meet-and-greets.

Tuesday- Mobile Growth Summit
BGA was invited to the Mobile Growth Summit, hosted by MGS and Ready.gg. There, we hosted a panel to explore “Blockchain Gaming: The Positive Shift from Speculation to Commercialization,” alongside BGA members Polkadot Play, Sequence, and Ready.gg.

Tuesday evening – Japan Game Night
This event, hosted by Pacific Meta and powered by Helika, connected East to West, offering a great connection across gaming cultures, history, and evolution. BGA’s Director of Global Development, Flavien Defraire, spoke alongside industry experts to give their take on the current outlook of the Japanese and international web3 gaming industry.

“We always enjoy working with BGA and genuinely appreciate their support, whether through booth presentations or by assisting our events as a community partner.

With their significant influence in the Web3 gaming industry, they consistently offer a small startup like ours from Japan numerous opportunities to showcase our marketing services to an international audience. This, in turn, helps many Web3 games gain access to the Japanese market.”
Kousei Sho, Co-founder and Head of Business Development  | Pacific Meta

Wednesday to Friday – The GDC Booth 
The booth was a constant hive of activity. Attendees from across the industry came to connect with BGA and meet different projects. We talked with a broad range of attendees, from individual artists, creators, KOLs, influencers, investors, game designers. All curious minds or innovators already deploying blockchain technology swung by the booth to get their hands on some of the latest web3 games. Throughout the event, we had the pleasure to have:
Games: Oxya Origin, Cyber Titans, Lowlife Forms, Polkadot Play, Unioverse by Random Games, Aavegotchi, Quicksave Interactive, ChainSafe Gaming, Antler Interactive with Cloudborn, Earn Alliance, Cosmik Battle by Cometh, Life’s Meta by Widow Games, Lost Dungeon by openfort
Infrastructure, tooling, products and services: Sequence, Ready.GG, ChainSafe Gaming, Pacific Meta, Apollo Entertainment, Trophy, Xerial… and did we mention that Kevin made an appearance and hung out at the booth?

“Our experience at the Blockchain Game Alliance booth during GDC was exceptional. The team, particularly Mel and Maude, were incredibly friendly and professional, while the booth itself facilitated valuable connections, resulting in significant exposure and positive impact. We look forward to participating in future events with BGA!”
Bryan Clark, Brand Director | Unioverse by Random Games

“The booth was very well located, the BGA team was completely available, presenting each partner and giving us the opportunity to be protagonists and showcase our product. Without a doubt, I would come back!”
Santiago Gramajo, Co-Founder | Xerial

Mission complete! BGA showcased some of the newest innovations in blockchain gaming and provided our members with a space to show and meet industry leaders.  

We absolutely loved the BGA booth and thanks again for giving the Sequence team the opportunity to showcase and demo all the exciting things we have going on!
Megan Doyle, Growth Marketing Lead | Sequence

Thank you so much to BGA for inviting us to your booth and side events at GDC! It was an absolute pleasure to attend and be part of such a well-organized and insightful gathering. It was our first GDC and we got to meet amazing teams and people. Web3 gaming is now taking an important place within the gaming industry and we know we can count on BGA to support this shift.
Stephane Heip, Head of Marketing and Communications | Cometh

Wednesday Evening – Orbis86. Web3 and AI in Gaming
Heading over to the bay, BGA joined Orbis event as community partners, moderating a panel to explore the “Gaming Gold Rush,” decoded strategies for financial success in the booming gaming sector. Oozing cool San Francisco vibes and connecting a diverse community across the gaming sector.

Thursday – Wast3D! IYKYK!
This event, hosted by Elixir Games, SKALE, Unioverse by Random Games, and BGA, was the one to be at!
An epic event, a mix of over 200 web2 and web3 game professionals joined us for an evening to unwind and enjoy gaming. The evening was a huge success and a highlight of many side-event goers’ calendars. With games to demo, people to meet, and food to eat, the evening provided a container for a real mix of traditional and web3 gaming experts to come together in one space to network and have fun after a day on the conference floor. We also had a guest appearance by Kevin De Rug, adding even more icing on the cake of this eventful night by being dysfunctionally awesome! Some lucky attendees walked away with special Skateboard giveaways from Elixir, each with a fantastic design.

The key takeaway is that after a busy day conferencing, everyone loves to have fun, play great games with new tech, and meet future collaborators! 

We are delighted that everyone had a fabulous evening, and sorry for those of you we had to ask to wait outside! We moved as quickly as we could to get everyone in for drinks, nibbles and networking.

Friday – Breakfast Bytes! It’s Muffin Day!
Over 100 people joined us for an early morning session, co-hosted by Polkadot Play, ChainSafe Gaming, FunFair Ventures, and Blockchain Game Alliance, to talk web3 gaming over coffee, muffins, and breakfast burritos. BGA moderated a panel discussion to explore “Web3’s Path to Effortless Development’  diving deeper into the thriving world of blockchain gaming with Colin Schwarz (Chainsafe), Frederico Kessler (Funfair Ventures) and Nicholas Douzinas (Polkadot Play).

“The BGA breakfast event clearly stood out as a highlight, providing a prime setting for fostering connections in the Web3 Gaming sphere. It’s great to hear about the energy and the collaborative spirit among attendees. It indeed reflects the vibrant community that the BGA has been instrumental in building and their dedication to advancing Web3 Gaming. What a fantastic note to end a crazy week at GDC!”
Frederico Kessler, CPO | Funfair Ventures

“Another great event from the Blockchain Gaming Alliance. The house was packed, and the panel was insightful and well-received. Once again, the BGA brought together a group of diverse, passionate, and like-minded individuals, and the growth and excitement within the blockchain-enabled gaming space was clearly on display.”
Colin Schwarz, Senior Product Manager | ChainSafe Systems

BGA Key Takeaways from the Panel Discussion:

• The ecosystem has overcome the challenge of onboarding game devs into web3 by simplifying the development process, although it was debated that not all entrepreneurs building games fully understand how to abstract the complexity of web3 into their game’s development.
• Governance was a key aspect highlighted during the conversation. The panelists spoke on solutions they are building to help game developers to better engage with multiple gaming communities.

To Wrap it all up
BGA had a strong presence at GDC, joining numerous events around town. We are delighted with the turnout, reception, and discussions around the web3 gaming ecosystem. It was a pleasure to work with, meet and connect with many of our members IRL and make new connections across both web2 and web3 gaming. Thank you to everyone who was part of our activities!

It was a very valuable week for members and the BGA, and we are even more excited about the upcoming events this year! Look out for BGA-organized activities in April at Paris Blockchain Week and Token2049 Dubai. Stay tuned on our socials, X and LinkedIn, for further details coming soon!

In the meantime, if you’d like to dive into more news, there is still time to check out the GDC Magazine and catch up with members’ activities, new releases and more!