The Indie Sport Awards has stripped Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of each its Sport of the 12 months and Debut Sport awards, citing the roleplaying sport’s use of generative AI.
Run by Six One Indie, the annual Indie Sport Awards goals to focus on excellence in impartial online game improvement. Titles are eligible for consideration within the Indie Sport Awards if their builders are outdoors the “conventional writer system,” and weren’t owned or financially managed by a significant company. Stated video games additionally should not have used any generative AI of their improvement course of, which might make them “strictly ineligible for nomination.”
Sadly, it seems that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s developer Sandfall Interactive did certainly use generative AI, disqualifying them from the Indie Sport Awards.
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“The Indie Sport Awards have a tough stance on using gen AI all through the nomination course of and in the course of the ceremony itself,” the Indie Sport Awards wrote, asserting its resolution over the weekend. “When it was submitted for consideration, a consultant of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used within the improvement of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
“In gentle of Sandfall Interactive confirming using gen AI artwork in manufacturing on the day of the Indie Sport Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination. Whereas the belongings in query have been patched out and it’s a great sport, it does go towards the laws we now have in place.”
The Indie Sport Awards’ Sport of the 12 months and Debut Sport will now be awarded to the second-highest scoring titles in every respective class. As such, Debut Sport goes to à la mode video games‘ survival horror Sorry We’re Closed, whereas the Indie Sport Awards’ Sport of the 12 months 2025 is Dogubomb‘s puzzle journey sport Blue Prince.
Sandfall Interactive had beforehand disclosed its use of AI in a July interview with Spanish newspaper El País, although didn’t explicitly verify that the instruments they used have been generative in nature. On the time, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s producer François Meurisse merely said that that they had used “some AI” within the sport’s manufacturing.
Mashable Mild Pace
In a later replace to El País‘ article, Sandfall Interactive claimed that no generative AI belongings presently stay in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Nonetheless, it confirmed that generative AI was used to create placeholder textures throughout improvement, not all of which have been eliminated previous to launch on account of oversights within the high quality assurance course of. Sandfall Interactive states that such AI-generated textures have been changed inside 5 days of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s launch, and have been by no means meant to be included within the ultimate sport.
Gamers did certainly spot AI-generated textures in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 upon its April 24 launch, shortly calling out suspicious in-game posters on social media. Lower than every week later, patch notes for a hotfix famous that the builders had “changed a placeholder texture with the proper visible asset.”
Even so, the Indie Sport Awards have been apparently unaware of those occasions, because it didn’t uncover Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s AI use till Dec. 18, the day the winners have been introduced.
Response to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33‘s disqualification from the Indie Sport Awards has been combined. Whereas some followers recognize the awards’ strict stance towards generative AI, others really feel that Sandfall Interactive’s use of the expertise to create a number of placeholder poster belongings was comparatively minor and needs to be permissible on this case. Nonetheless, the Indie Sport Awards’ standards requires that no generative AI be used in any respect, whatever the extent of such use.
“Thanks for standing up and talking out for a extra moral video games trade,” wrote @erin-hallow on Bluesky. “In a time the place genuine human creativity is beneath risk and large gamers perpetuate that difficulty, it means so much to see an awards present that actually cares in regards to the authenticity of the video games it showcases.”
“Contemplating a single placeholder asset made it into the ultimate model, fully by mistake, it appears a bit foolish however guidelines are guidelines I suppose,” Redditor u/Caridor wrote on the r/expedition33 subreddit. (Word: Technically at the very least two placeholder belongings have been noticed, however their sentiment stands.)
Whereas Sandfall Interactive hasn’t instantly commented on the retraction of its Indie Sport Awards at time of writing, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 nonetheless has loads of different wins to maintain it heat. The extremely lauded French sport swept the 2025 Sport Awards earlier this month, taking house Sport of the 12 months in addition to eight different trophies. It additionally took six wins on the Golden Joystick awards, additionally together with Final Sport of the 12 months.
Use of generative AI in sport improvement is a contentious difficulty. Although some see it as a instrument to extend effectivity, many others are involved that generative AI will substitute actual artists, eliminating jobs from an already struggling trade whereas flooding the market with low-quality, soulless AI slop.
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