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Indie Game Awards retracts Expedition 33 prizes due to generative AI

By Jay Peters

Monday, December 22, 2025

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Indie Game Awards retracts Expedition 33 prizes due to generative AI

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News Close News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All News AI Close AI Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All AI Entertainment Close Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Entertainment Indie Game Awards retracts Expedition 33 prizes due to generative AI The organization also retracted an award from a game sold by Palmer Luckey’s ModRetro. The organization also retracted an award from a game sold by Palmer Luckey’s ModRetro. by Jay Peters Close Jay Peters Senior Reporter Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Jay Peters Dec 22, 2025, 6:47 PM UTC Link Share Image: Sandfall Interactive Jay Peters Close Jay Peters Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Jay Peters is a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had earned another Game of the Year award by the Indie Game Awards last week, but the organization has since announced that the award would be retracted because developer Sandfall Interactive used generative AI during development. The Indie Game Awards also rescinded the Debut Game award given to Expedition 33 . Here is the Indie Game Awards’ explanation, from an FAQ : The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself. 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 a resurfaced interview with Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI art in production being brought to our attention on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination. While the assets in question were patched out and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place. The Indie Game Awards’ Mike Towndrow also explained the decision in a video on Bluesky . The Indie Game Awards’ criteria, as outlined in that FAQ, says that “Games developed using generative AI are strictly ineligible for nomination.” Sandfall Interactive didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Game of the Year is instead being awarded to puzzle game Blue Prince . Publisher Raw Fury said on Sunday that “there is no AI used in Blue Prince” and that the game “was built and crafted with full human instinct” by Tonda Ros and the Dogubomb team. “As gen AI becomes more prevalent in our industry, we will better navigate it appropriately,” the Indie Game Awards says. Related Larian’s CEO says the studio isn’t ‘trimming down teams to replace them with AI’ Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins Game of the Year. The Indie Game Awards is also retracting an Indie Vanguard award from studio Gortyn Code, which developed the Game Boy-inspired game Chantey . The game is sold on a physical cartridge by Palmer Luckey’s ModRetro, which makes the Chromatic Game Boy. Luckey also founded defense contractor Anduril, and Chromatic recently announced an Anduril-branded Chromatic made from “the same magnesium aluminum alloy as Anduril’s attack drones.” “The IGAs nomination committee were unfortunately made aware of ModRetro’s nature and principles the day after the 2025 premiere with the news of their upcoming handheld console,” the Indie Game Awards says. Because of Chantey ’s ties with ModRetro, “Indie Vanguard has also been retracted as we do not want to provide the company with a platform.” The organization also says that “The decision does not reflect Gortyn Code, but ModRetro alone.” Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates. Jay Peters Close Jay Peters Senior Reporter Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Jay Peters AI Close AI Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All AI Entertainment Close Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Entertainment Gaming Close Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Gaming News Close News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All News Most Popular Most Popular GOG’s Steam-alternative PC game store is leaving CD Projekt, staying DRM-free Turn your PC into a Super Nintendo with Epilogue’s new USB dock LG is announcing its own Frame-style TV at CES The Canon EOS R6 Mark III is great, but this lens is amazing This experimental camera can focus on everything at once The Verge Daily A free daily digest of the news that matters most. 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