Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took house the Recreation of the Yr and Debut Recreation honors on the Indie Recreation Awards on Thursday, however the groups at developer Sandfall Interactive and writer Kepler Interactive could not have fun for lengthy. On Saturday, the Indie Recreation Awards retracted Clair Obscur‘s honors resulting from inclusion of generative AI property at launch that have been shortly patched out.
As detailed on the Indie Recreation Awards’ FAQ web page, the group states that “representatives of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used within the improvement of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” when the sport was submitted for awards consideration. “In gentle of Sandfall Interactive confirming the usage of gen AI artwork in manufacturing on the day of the Indie Recreation Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination.” Although the AI generated property have been patched out, their preliminary inclusion was sufficient for the Indie Recreation Awards to disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and retract its awards.
Polygon has reached out to Sandfall Interactive’s representatives for remark.
The IGAs Nomination Committee is formally retracting Debut Recreation and Recreation of the Yr, awarding each classes to new recipients. Moreover, we’re retracting one of many Indie Vanguard recipients. Full particulars could be present in our FAQ beneath Recreation Eligibility: www.indiegameawards.gg/faq
— The Indie Recreation Awards (@indiegameawards.gg) 2025-12-20T18:45:10.232Z
Quotes from earlier within the 12 months from Sandfall Interactive’s François Meurisse made the rounds on social media final week amid a information cycle caught up in the usage of generative AI in video games, sparked by feedback from Larian Studios’ Swen Vincke, who stated Larian is utilizing AI instruments to develop the forthcoming Divinity. Sandfall Interactive had beforehand admitted to make use of of gen AI in growing Clair Obscur. In June, the Spanish outlet El País revealed a narrative together with an interview carried out round Clair Obscur‘s launch, through which Meurisse admitted that Sandfall used a minimal quantity generative AI in some kind throughout the sport’s improvement.
“We used some AI, however not a lot,” he stated (by way of Google Translate). “The secret’s that we have been very clear about what we needed to do and the place to take a position our efforts. And, after all, know-how has allowed us to do issues that have been unthinkable not way back.”
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 launched with what some suspected to be AI-generated textures that, because it clarified to El País, have been then changed with customized property in a swift patch 5 days after launch. Customers on X and Reddit noticed the AI property, however consciousness of them wasn’t very widespread. Sandfall and Clair Obscur obtained nowhere close to as a lot backlash as, say, 11 Bit Studios did for The Alters, which additionally included AI-generated background property.
For now, the Indie Recreation Awards is honoring two different video games within the classes that Clair Obscur gained, with awards “going to the subsequent highest-ranked sport in its respective class,” in line with an explainer on its web site. The Debut Recreation award will go to We’re Closed whereas the Indie Recreation Awards’ Recreation of the Yr honor will likely be bestowed upon Blue Prince (Polygon’s personal finest sport of 2025). Count on acceptance speeches from the builders behind each these video games to be shared in early 2026.
