Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been officially disqualified from the 2025 Indie Game Awards after developer Sandfall Interactive confirmed the game's use of generative artificial intelligence in its development. Six One Indies, the creators of the Indie Game Awards, announced that this use of generative artificial intelligence disqualified them Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 since receiving the two awards she won during the show on December 18th, she will now travel to second place.
The use of generative artificial intelligence in game development has been a hot topic recently, and the winner of the game was Game of the Year 2023 Baldur's Gate 3Developer Larian Studios has recently come under fire for using artificial intelligence in the development process of its recently announced game. Divinity. The topic of AI in game development has left the industry rift, some developers such as Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Director Daniel Vávra supports Larian's use of AI in the conceptual stage of development. Meanwhile, other industry veterans like Bruce Staley, co-director The last of ustook a stance against using AI to create game art, a view shared by the Six One India team that led to the disqualification Expedition 33 from the India Game Awards.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is disqualified from the Indie Game Awards due to its use of AI
In a statement posted on the Indie Game Awards FAQ page regarding Expedition 33Since the awards were withdrawn, Six One India has taken a hard line against the use of AI generation in game development, claiming that during the nomination process, Sandfall agreed that no AI generation was used in the game. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. On the day of the Indie Game Awards, December 18, Expedition 33 producer Francois Meurisse confirmed that the game did in fact use some sort of generative artificial intelligence during the development process, leading Six One India to retract the awards the game won that night.
While Clair Obscuro was originally awarded the Debut Game and Game of the Year awards, these were withdrawn after it was confirmed that artificial intelligence was used in its development. After this disqualification, they received the runner-up prize for these awards Sorry, we are closed takes home the debut game award and Blue Prince won the Game of the Year award. The developers of these games, à la mode and Dogubomb, have been invited to upload acceptance speeches, which are likely to be published in early 2026.
AI generated assets v Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 they were used as placeholders and eventually removed from the game. However, this use still violates the rules set by the Indie Game Awards regarding the use of artificial intelligence in games Expedition 33 unfit to win. Despite the use of AI-generated placeholder assets, Sandfall has stated that it strongly opposes “creative” AI being used to replace human-generated art in game development.
Still, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 took home a record number of awards at The Game Awards 2025
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Game of the year
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Best Game Direction
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The best story
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Best Art Direction
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Best Music and Score (Lorien Testard)
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Best Performance (Jennifer English)
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The best RPG game
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The best indie game
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Best Debut Indie Game
Despite the controversy surrounding the use of generative artificial intelligence Clair Obscuro managed to set the record for most awards won at The Game Awards 2025, taking home a total of 9 awards from its 12 nominations, including the coveted Game of the Year award. Many fans predicted that this game would be a tough contender at TGA 2025, but setting a new record is much more remarkable than expected. In light of the revelation of Fr Expedition 33Due to the use of AI during development, the wider gaming industry is now at a crossroads with this technology and must learn how to bridge the gap where a game can win big despite using it, yet still lose to the same AI tools.
- Released
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April 24, 2025
- ESRB
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Older 17+ / Blood and gore, violent language, obscene themes, violence
- Developers
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Sandfall Interactive
- Publishers
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Interactive Kepler
