Arabic
The Indie Game Awards has announced an official decision to withdraw the Game of the Year and Best First Game awards from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 after it was confirmed that generative AI was used in the game’s development.
The Indie Game Awards took place on December 18 with Clair Obscur winning the top prizes, but organizer Six One Indie explained in a subsequent statement that this information was not known at the time of the voting and recording of the ceremony.
The Indie Game Awards has a strict policy against the use of generative AI during the nomination process and during the ceremony itself, the statement said, adding that Sandfall representatives confirmed at the presentation that the game did not use any generative AI tools.
However, according to Six One Indie, the use of generative AI was confirmed by Sandfall on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 presentation, which automatically led to the disqualification of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the withdrawal of its awards.
The organizer noted that the decision was made out of transparency and respect for the rules of the competition, while thanking the community for their patience and constructive interaction with the case, stressing that the organizing team is small but strives to develop the event with the support of players and developers.
After Expedition 33 was disqualified, the awards were shifted to the 2nd place entries, with Sorry We’re Closed taking the award for Best First Game and the Game of the Year award going to Blue Prince.
This decision opens up a wide debate about the use of generative AI in indie game development and the limits of its acceptance within awards and events that focus on purely human creativity.
