After the resounding victory at The Game Awards, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was also awarded the title of Game of the Year at another show. However, the award has now been revoked – because the game did not adhere to the rules.
What is this award? “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” would have won two awards at The Indie Game Awards. This still doesn’t come close to the many awards it won at The Game Awards, but at least the award for “Game of the Year” would have been included here as well.
In addition, Expedition 33 was supposed to be awarded as “Debut Game”. However, because the development team allegedly lied about one issue, the awards were revoked. Instead, “Blue Prince” has now been promoted to Game of the Year, and “Sorry We’re Closed” to “Debut Game”.
Clair Obscur did not adhere to the rules
What is the problem? As the Indie Game Awards team states on their site, they had a strict stance regarding the use of generative AI. The development team from Sandfall Interactive initially made false claims regarding this:
When submitting for review, a representative from Sandfall Interactive confirmed that no generative AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Since Sandfall Interactive confirmed the use of generative AI art in the production on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025, this leads to the disqualification of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from the nomination.
The award show team adds that the “questionable elements” have already been removed from the game. Nevertheless, this violates the existing regulations. Therefore, the nomination committee has decided to withdraw the awards.
Where was AI supposed to be used? As X-user Nyanomancer discovered, it appears that AI was used in a newspaper column. The screenshot shows that the articles have a fantasy language and the images do not resemble real locations or people.
In a second post, the same user explains that those were just placeholders. The textures have been replaced in the finished game with self-designed newspaper articles. Additionally, another AI asset from the starting area was removed upon release.
Moreover, François Meurisse, producer of Clair Obscur, confirmed the use of AI. With this technology, things became possible that one couldn’t have even thought about a short time ago. You can read the statement from User GenePark on X.
In the industry, it is unclear which games use AI and which do not. Just recently, there was a major outcry regarding Baldur’s Gate 3, as Larian Studios also relies on this technology. The CEO, Swen Vincke, believes: There is no problem. Head of the new Divinity relies on AI, has already used it for Baldur’s Gate 3
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