Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was awarded several awards in past few weeks notably the Game of the Year award by TheGameAwards. What we didn't see coming is the disqualification of the same game by TheIndieGame Awards due to the use of AI in the making of the Expedition 33 by the Sandfall Interactive game development firm.

This decision came as a surprise as the game was already awarded and the show was recorded on 18th December 2025. As per reports, when the game was submitted by the Sandfall Interactive, the team agreed that there is no use of AI in the process of game development. Lately, gamers are against the use of AI and terming the games as AI slop in a measure to support the true human art and hundreds of hours game development teams pour into the game to bring them to life. This is also due to huge number of games releasing in the indie space in the past few years especially after the AI wave since 2022.

The Indie Game Awards mentioned that Sandfall Interactive confirmed the use of AI on the day of the premiere resulting in the late disqualification.

Now, the awards team decided to select the winners from the runners up in the both categories that Expedition 33 won. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Game of the Year and Debut Game at The Indie Game Awards. The game "Sorry We’re Closed" took the Debut Game award and "Blue Prince" won Game of the Year.

The game studios as much as they want to avoid the usage of AI in the development process, they will be heavily scrutinized both by reviewers and gamers alike. However, it is highly likely that AI can be used in some games to a certain degree in the coming years.