Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was disqualified from the Indie Game Awards—but not for the reasons you think

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has swept through every single award show it has appeared on, claiming the most The Game Awards wins of all time. It’s a stellar game, one that revolutionized its genre, but also proved that games are a true art form.

However, the Indie Game Awards disqualified it, not because of its strange funding and debatable “indie” status, but its use of AI.

This was confirmed by the Indie Game Awards itself, which posted a statement on its FAQ page explaining why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was excluded from the awards on the day of the ceremony, given that it was already nominated for the Debut Game and Game of the Year categories. It explained that IGA has a “hard stance” regarding the use of AI in video game development and that it had, prior to the ceremony, been told by Sandfall that no AI was used in the production of Expedition 33.

However, Sandfall Interactive did say it used “some AI” when making Expedition 33 a few months ago (via El Pais), which apparently came to the IGA’s attention on the day the ceremony was supposed to take place.

“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,” the organization said.

“While the assets in question were patched out, and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place,” it added.

The IGA has heavy-handed regulations when it comes to the use of generative artificial intelligence models, but are apparently willing to rework and reconsider its guidelines for future ceremonies, given how popular the technology is becoming (unfortunately).

Even so, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been excluded from at least one major awards show, though it doesn’t really matter. It won every category it was nominated for at the 2025 Golden Joysticks, took home nine Game Awards, and was even crowned Destructoid’s own Game of the Year (and even the community agreed).