Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive have been enjoying a record-breaking awards run with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - which recently took home more trophies than any other title in The Game Awards history - but at least two of its awards elsewhere have been revoked.
The Indie Game Awards 2025 took place on Thursday, where Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won both Game of the Year and Debut Game. Both awards were already a little controversial since Clair Obscur isn't exactly what you think of when you think indie - it has a publisher and a budget stretching into the millions of dollars.
But just yesterday, The Indie Game Awards retracted both awards, explaining that the studio's use of generative AI during production goes against the organization's rules and a developer representative hadn't been entirely honest about that fact before submitting the game, per its FAQ page.
"The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself," the awards body wrote. "When it was submitted for consideration, a representative of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI art in production on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination."
For those out of the loop, Clair Obscur launched with what seemed to be AI-generated textures in at least one area. When the odd texture was spotted and circulated online, Sandfall quietly patched it out and replaced it without a word.
"While the assets in question were patched out and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place. As a result, the IGAs nomination committee has agreed to officially retract both the Debut Game and Game of the Year awards."
Instead, the organization's Game of the Year award has gone to the equally-deserving Blue Prince, while Debut Game is in Sorry We're Closed's hands.
"We love making games more than we love managing": Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead says "it's good to have limitations," so the RPG studio won't "scale up" for any future projects
