Indie Game Awards removes awards from “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” for use of AI during its development

Organized by the Six One Indie collective, The Indie Game Awards is a competition that seeks to reward the best in the video game industry created by studios outside the reach of the largest studios – and the corporations that control them. As an additional condition, it has also been added that these titles have not used generative artificial intelligence in their production, something that still causes controversy and debates in the industry.

And although “Clair Obscur” met the first condition, not belonging to any of the titans in the field of video games, one of the creators of the game admitted in an interview with El País last July that they used AI in the development of the title for some textures, although these were replaced shortly after the game’s release in April.

However, this was enough for the Indie Game Awards to consider that the video game should be disqualified, so the awards will move to second place, in this case “Blue Prince” wins Game of the Year and “Sorry We’re Closed” wins Debut Game.

The decision of the Indie Game Awards has generated mixed opinions on social networks, and while some praised that they take a strict look at the use of AI in the creation of games, others questioned whether the minimal use of AI content that did not end up in the final game deserved such a strong response, while also questioning why the organizers of the contest admitted the nomination of “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” when its use of artificial intelligence had been known since at least mid-year.