Roguelike superstar drops out of The Game Awards because Megabonk "is not my debut game," but fans beg solo dev to reconsider: "Wait until you hear about 'indie' games in the indie category that are backed by multi-billion-dollar corps"

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John Megabonk demonstrates the definition of bonking integrity

Megabonk low poly monkey
(Image credit: Vedinad)

Integrity – defined as moral fortitude, or the act of removing your beloved indie roguelike from The Game Awards nominations. Fans are pleading with the pseudonymous Megabonk solo developer John Megabonk, or Vedinad, to reconsider, but Mr. Bonk won't be swayed.

"I'm withdrawing from The Game Awards," they announce on Twitter in a November 18 post. "It's an honor and a dream for Megabonk to be nominated for TGA, but unfortunately i don't think it qualifies for the category 'Debut Indie Game.'" Other nominees in the Debut Indie Game category include superhero drama Dispatch and French JRPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which received a history-making total of 12 nominations.

Megabonk

(Image credit: vedinad)

But – fans argue – is dropping out of The Game Awards actually justice? "Wait until you hear about 'indie' games in the indie category that are backed by multi-billion-dollar corps," says one reply to Mr. Megabonk's post, with nearly 3,000 likes as of writing.

Dispatch developer AdHoc Studios and Clair Obscur studio Sandfall Interactive are indeed both independent studios – but not in the sense that "indie" means "do-it-yourself" in the basement. Both AdHoc and Sandfall are considerably larger operations than Megabonk's, seemingly, one guy on the computer. Both Dispatch and Clair Obscur feature celebrity cameos, hundreds of names in their credits, and likely the studio funds to make these miracles happen.

But Megabonk stands for values. It represents bonking honesty. "you should vote for another one of the amazing debut titles, they are all amazing games!" concludes its dev. "thanks again! new megabonk update coming soon."

Indie roguelike breakout Megabonk hit a new player record over the weekend, charting higher than Call of Duty, Borderlands 4 and Marvel Rivals.

Ashley Bardhan
Ashley Bardhan
Senior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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