It's safe to say Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 was this year's biggest winner, sweeping every award, including a record number of wins at The Game Awards 2025. However, the Indie Game Awards just rescinded two awards it had given to Sandfall Interactive's surrealist RPG following new controversy over the studio's use of generative AI tools in the development process. Both the Debut Game and Overall Game of the Year awards will now be awarded to new winners instead.
Mike Towndrow of Six One Indie, which runs The Indie Game Awards, confirmed in a Bluesky video that the IGA Nominating Committee had made the decision to strip Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of two gongs. “As you know, we take a tough stance on Gen-AI in video games, and we talk about it throughout the year when discussing potential candidates,” he says. “On the day of the premiere, [for the show]Sandfall Interactive has indeed confirmed that gen-AI was used in the creation of Expedition 33.
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– Indie Game Awards (@indiegameawards.gg) December 20, 2025 18:45
Towndrow said it was agreed in advance during the submission process that no generative AI was used during the development of Expedition 33. “Unfortunately, this is not the case. This is a clear violation of our rules and will result in disqualification from nominations.” The contest's eligibility rules state that “games developed using generative AI are strictly ineligible for nominations.”
With Expedition 33 removed from the list, the Game of the Year award went to former runner-up Blue Prince (second in my personal rating to Silksong, and a worthy choice in my book), while Debut Game went to Sorry We're Closed. Both can now be viewed alongside the other winners on the IGA website.
The debate about AI was recently reignited after Larian CEO Swen Vincke commented on the use of gen-AI tools in the creation of their upcoming RPG, Divinity. Sandfall acknowledges that a small amount of generated AI was used during Expedition 33's development, and that some in-game assets that were flagged as AI-generated by players at launch were replaced in early patches.
Sandfall's IGA win was already controversial due to Expedition 33's big-budget nature, which went against the “spirit” of the celebration, but it also won Best Indie Game and Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards. If you'd like to hear acceptance speeches from the new winners, Towndrow said both Dogubomb and A La Mode Games have been invited to record, but you can expect them after the holidays.
