'Clair Obscur: Expedition 33' stripped of Indie Game Awards due to generative AI use

The Indie Game Awards has stripped Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of both its Game of the Year and Debut Game awards, citing the roleplaying game's use of generative AI.

Run by Six One Indie, the annual Indie Game Awards aims to highlight excellence in independent video game development. Titles are eligible for consideration in the Indie Game Awards if their developers are outside the "traditional publisher system," and were not owned or financially controlled by a major corporation. Said games also must not have used any generative AI in their development process, which would make them "strictly ineligible for nomination." 

Unfortunately, it appears that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's developer Sandfall Interactive did indeed use generative AI, disqualifying them from the Indie Game Awards.

"The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself," the Indie Game Awards wrote, announcing its decision over the weekend. "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. 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' Game of the Year and Debut Game will now be awarded to the second-highest scoring titles in each respective category. As such, Debut Game goes to à la mode games' survival horror Sorry We’re Closed, while the Indie Game Awards' Game of the Year 2025 is Dogubomb's puzzle adventure game Blue Prince.

Sandfall Interactive had previously disclosed its use of AI in a July interview with Spanish newspaper El País, though did not explicitly confirm that the tools they used were generative in nature. At the time, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's producer François Meurisse merely stated that they had used "some AI" in the game's production.

In a later update to El País' article, Sandfall Interactive claimed that no generative AI assets currently remain in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. However, it confirmed that generative AI was used to create placeholder textures during development, not all of which were removed prior to release due to oversights in the quality assurance process. Sandfall Interactive states that such AI-generated textures were replaced within five days of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's launch, and were never intended to be included in the final game.

Players did indeed spot AI-generated textures in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 upon its April 24 release, quickly calling out suspicious in-game posters on social media. Less than a week later, patch notes for a hotfix noted that the developers had "replaced a placeholder texture with the correct visual asset."

Even so, the Indie Game Awards were apparently unaware of these events, as it did not discover Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's AI use until Dec. 18, the day the winners were announced.

Reaction to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's disqualification from the Indie Game Awards has been mixed. While some fans appreciate the awards' strict stance against generative AI, others feel that Sandfall Interactive's use of the technology to create a few placeholder poster assets was relatively minor and should be permissible in this case. Still, the Indie Game Awards' criteria requires that no generative AI be used at all, regardless of the extent of such use.

"Thank you for standing up and speaking out for a more ethical games industry," wrote @erin-hallow on Bluesky. "In a time where authentic human creativity is under threat and big players perpetuate that issue, it means a lot to see an awards show that truly cares about the authenticity of the games it showcases."

"Considering a single placeholder asset made it into the final version, entirely by mistake, it seems a bit silly but rules are rules I guess," Redditor u/Caridor wrote on the r/expedition33 subreddit. (Note: Technically at least two placeholder assets were spotted, but their sentiment stands.)

While Sandfall Interactive hasn't directly commented on the retraction of its Indie Game Awards at time of writing, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 still has plenty of other wins to keep it warm. The highly lauded French game swept the 2025 Game Awards earlier this month, taking home Game of the Year as well as eight other trophies. It also took six wins at the Golden Joystick awards, also including Ultimate Game of the Year.

Use of generative AI in game development is a contentious issue. Though some see it as a tool to increase efficiency, many others are concerned that generative AI will replace real artists, eliminating jobs from an already struggling industry while flooding the market with low-quality, soulless AI slop.