“Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s Lead Prioritized Smaller Studios Before Winning Indie Awards”

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s creative director, Guillaume Broche, expressed that the team would have preferred the indie awards at The Game Awards to recognize other developers.

In a pre-awards interview, Broche was asked if Clair Obscur qualifies as an indie game, to which he responded, “In terms of budget, we are definitely more towards triple-I.” He noted the game’s 3D graphics don’t align with typical indie aesthetics. Lead programmer Tom Guillermin added that while the project began as an indie title, it has grown beyond that initial scope, making it challenging to pinpoint when a game transitions out of the indie category.

Broche acknowledged the nominations at The Game Awards, stating, “We’ll see what happens, but we’d rather this category went to a smaller studio. I don’t think we really needed this [nomination], even if it’s appreciated.” Ultimately, Clair Obscur triumphed over competitors like Blue Prince, Absolum, Ball x Pit, and other Game of the Year contenders such as Hades 2 and Hollow Knight: Silksong for Best Independent Game, as well as winning Debut Indie Game against Blue Prince, Despelote, and Dispatch.

This raises questions about how The Game Awards defines indie games. It often seems to favor titles that are self-published or from smaller publishers like Raw Fury or Devolver. However, games like Dave the Diver, which comes from a subsidiary of Nexon, complicate this notion, as it feels indie despite its backing from a major company that reported a net income of ¥114.9 billion in 2021.

Guillermin pointed out the ambiguity in determining the cutoff for indie status. For instance, Kojima Productions is independent and owns the Death Stranding IP, but its association with a large publisher like Sony likely disqualifies it from indie recognition. This raises the question of how to define which publishers still fit the “indie” label.

The Game Awards also suffers from unclear category definitions, such as Sifu, which is not a fighting game, being nominated for Best Fighting Game, while WWE titles are relegated to Best Sports/Racing Game despite being more akin to fighting games. This year’s Best Fighting Game category included Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, a title that hasn’t even been released yet, alongside three re-releases of older fighters.