The nominations for the Game Awards are just out, and the first developer of a game on Steam claims that he is nominated in the wrong category. He requests to be excluded from the awards – and receives an immediate response from Geoff Keighley.
Why is he requesting exclusion? Megabonk is nominated in the category “Best Debut Indie Game,” aimed at developers who have created their first small game. The competitors include Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Dispatch.
Megabonk would actually have fit into the category, as the developer vedinad has not published any other games so far. Moreover, the game is very successful and had over 117,000 simultaneous players on Steam at peak (see SteamDB). However, on X, the developer admits that this is not true:
He writes that it is an honor for him to be nominated. However, he is not suitable for the category since he has previously published games under other studio names. Megabonk is not his first game. If that is true, he does not belong in the “Best Debut Indie” category.
There are also other indie titles where developers have previously worked on other games. AdHoc Studios, the developer of Dispatch, was founded by veterans from Telltale. Even Clair Obscur was developed by former employees of Ubisoft.
Who could be behind it? Rumors suggest that DaniDev is involved, a successful developer on YouTube (see Reddit). He has developed games like Crab Game, Muck, and Jelly Drift. However, the incidents did not confirm the rumors.
Game Awards moderator responds to the request
What does Geoff Keighley say about this? Keighley is the organizer of the Game Awards and has since responded to the request on X. He recounts the case again and thanks the honesty of the solo developer. He then makes his decision:
We are grateful for his honesty. As a result, MegaBonk will be removed from the category.
This means that all votes cast for the game so far are no longer valid. So please vote again for another title in the category if you had previously voted for Megabonk.
Keighley adds that the developer of Megabonk will share more when he is ready. The moderator of the Game Awards respects that vedinad does not want to take recognition away from other indie teams, even if the game itself is outstanding.
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