Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year and Debut Game honors at Thursday's Indie Game Awards, but the team at developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive couldn't celebrate for long. On Saturday, the Indie Game Awards were canceled. claire obscura's honor comes from the inclusion of generative AI assets that were quickly patched at launch.
As detailed on the Indie Game Awards' FAQ page, the organization states that “representatives from Sandfall Interactive agreed that gen AI was not used in the development of the game.” Claire Obscur: Expedition 33“When a game is submitted for award consideration.” This is a disqualification considering Sandfall Interactive confirmed the use of gen AI art in production on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere. Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 The AI-generated assets were fixed, but their initial inclusion was enough to disqualify it from the Indie Game Awards. ” Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 and withdraw the award.
Polygon has reached out to a representative from Sandfall Interactive for comment.
The IGA's Nominating Committee will officially rescind the Debut Game and Game of the Year awards and award both categories to new winners. Additionally, we are retracting one of our Indie Vanguard winners. For more information, please see our Game Eligibility FAQ: www.indiegameawards.gg/faq — The Indie Game Awards (@indiegameawards.gg) 2025-12-20T18:45:10.232Z
Amid the news cycle regarding the use of generative AI in games, a quote from Sandfall Interactive's François Meurisse from earlier this year made the rounds on social media last week. This was prompted by comments from Larian Studios' Swen Vincke, who said that Larian is using AI tools to develop its next game. divinity. Sandfall Interactive previously admitted that it used gen AI in its development. claire obscura. In June, Spanish media outlet El Pais published an article that included interviews conducted around him. claire obscuraAt its launch, Meurice admitted that Sandfall used some form of minimal generative AI during the game's development.
“We used some AI, but not that much,” he said (via Google Translate). “The important thing is that we were very clear about what we wanted to do and where we were going to invest our efforts. And of course, technology has allowed us to do things that were unthinkable not so long ago.”
Claire Obscur: Expedition 33 It launched with what some suspected to be AI-generated textures, but was later replaced with custom assets in a quick patch. Users on X and Reddit discovered the AI asset, but awareness of it was not widespread. sandstorm and claire obscura For example, it didn't receive as much backlash as 11 Bit Studios. The AltersThis also included AI-generated background assets.
So far, Indie Game Awards has honored two other games in the following categories: claire obscura According to the website's explainer, the award “will be presented to the next highest ranked game in its respective category.” The debut game award is Closed Game of the Year honors at the Indie Game Awards blue prince (Polygon's own Best Games of 2025). Acceptance speeches from the developers of both these games will be shared in early 2026.
