Tencent seeks the best indies for Games Without Borders Awards

Tencent is busy taking applications for its fourth annual Tencent Games Without Borders Awards, which celebrates the best indie games from around the world. The applications opened on March 22, and they close on June 30. This year the entire process takes place online. This is becoming a bigger deal, and it’s a way for the world’s biggest game maker to give back to the game developers who make it successful.

As it has grown, the program has helped draw attention to the games that would otherwise get missed in the sea of noise around the industry. And it helps surface developers who need to break into the Chinese market or break out of a particular region to global success. This year, the program’s prize pool expanded to include things that will help developers finish their games, including hardware, localization, conference attendance, cloud credit, and mentorship, on top of cash prizes and promotion.