The Indie Game Awards have been canceled Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 of two major awards, including Game of the Year and First Game. This is due to developer Sandfall Interactive’s use of generative AI, .
This seems to be pretty cut and dry. The awards ceremony states that any game using generative AI in the development process would be “strictly ineligible” for nominations. It was recently revealed that Sandfall, making Chiaroscuro.
The company claims that this was only for placeholder textures which were later removed, but a few escaped the quality assurance process and, as such, . The Indie Game Awards clearly prohibit any use of generative AI and so here we are.
“In light of the fact that Sandfall Interactive confirmed the use of AI-gen art in production on the day of the 2025 Indie Game Awards premiere, this disqualifies Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 of his appointment,” the organization wrote. “While the assets in question have been fixed and this is a wonderful game, it goes against the regulations we have in place.”
Six One Indie, the company behind the ceremony, deserves a small share of blame here. These awards were originally awarded last week and we are aware of everything Chiaroscuro An AI thing for months. He claims he only discovered Sandfall’s use of AI on December 18, the day the winners were announced. A Google search on December 17th would probably have helped. It should be noted, however, that Sandfall previously agreed that no generative AI was used during development as part of the submission process.
Regardless, the second highest rated titles in each category now receive the award. This means that Blue Prince is now the game of the year and Sorry, we are closed hooks the first game.
Despite this controversy over AI, Chiaroscuro had one at this month’s Game Awards. He won just about everything he was nominated for, including . It is also part of our list of. The developer announced that it had resold in October. This number is surely much higher now.
