Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took house the Sport of the 12 months and Debut Sport honors on the Indie Sport Awards on Thursday, however the groups at developer Sandfall Interactive and writer Kepler Interactive could not rejoice for lengthy. On Saturday, the Indie Sport Awards retracted Clair Obscur‘s honors on account of inclusion of generative AI belongings at launch that have been shortly patched out.
As detailed on the Indie Sport Awards’ FAQ web page, the group states that “representatives of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used within the growth of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” when the sport was submitted for awards consideration. “In mild of Sandfall Interactive confirming the usage of 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.” Although the AI generated belongings have been patched out, their preliminary inclusion was sufficient for the Indie Sport 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 Sport and Sport of the 12 months, awarding each classes to new recipients. Moreover, we’re retracting one of many Indie Vanguard recipients. Full particulars may be present in our FAQ beneath Sport Eligibility: www.indiegameawards.gg/faq
— The Indie Sport Awards (@indiegameawards.gg) 2025-12-20T18:45:10.232Z
Quotes from earlier within the yr 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 creating Clair Obscur. In June, the Spanish outlet El País revealed a narrative together with an interview carried out round Clair Obscur‘s launch, by which Meurisse admitted that Sandfall used a minimal quantity generative AI in some kind in the course of the sport’s growth.
“We used some AI, however not a lot,” he stated (by way of Google Translate). “The bottom line is that we have been very clear about what we needed to do and the place to take a position our efforts. And, in fact, expertise 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 belongings in a swift patch 5 days after launch. Customers on X and Reddit noticed the AI belongings, 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 belongings.
For now, the Indie Sport Awards is honoring two different video games within the classes that Clair Obscur received, with awards “going to the following highest-ranked sport in its respective class,” in accordance with an explainer on its web site. The Debut Sport award will go to We’re Closed whereas the Indie Sport Awards’ Sport of the 12 months honor will likely be bestowed upon Blue Prince (Polygon’s personal greatest sport of 2025). Count on acceptance speeches from the builders behind each these video games to be shared in early 2026.
