The Indie Game Awards
Awards Ceremony
An annual indie-focused awards show produced by the team behind Six One Indie. It enforces a blanket ban on generative AI — a policy that, at its December 2025 ceremony, led it to strip Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of its Game of the Year win hours after handing it out.
In their words
We have a hard stance against gen AI in videogames.
As gen AI becomes more prevalent in our industry, we will better navigate it appropriately.
Biography
The Indie Game Awards is an annual celebration of independent games, produced by the team behind the Six One Indie showcase. It positions itself as a community-minded alternative to the larger industry award shows — and, unusually, has written a categorical opposition to generative AI directly into its rules: gen AI is barred throughout the nomination process and the ceremony itself.
That policy collided with reality at the 2025 ceremony on December 18, 2025. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the breakout RPG from French studio Sandfall Interactive, was awarded both Game of the Year and Best Debut. Within hours the organizers disqualified it. When the game was submitted, a Sandfall representative had attested that no generative AI was used in its development; on the day of the premiere, a resurfaced interview confirming the use of gen AI art in production surfaced, and the awards were rescinded after voting had closed and the show had already been recorded. Game of the Year was reassigned to Blue Prince and Best Debut to Sorry We’re Closed.
The Indie Game Awards have a hard stance on the use of gen AI throughout the nomination process and during the ceremony itself. When it was submitted for consideration, a representative of Sandfall Interactive agreed that no gen AI was used in the development of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. In light of a resurfaced interview with Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI art in production being brought to our attention on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination. While the assets in question were patched out and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place.
By the organizers’ own admission the disputed assets had already been patched out, and they called the game “wonderful” in the same breath as they stripped its trophies. The episode made the Indie Game Awards a flashpoint in the wider fight over AI in game development — a small, well-meaning show whose zero-tolerance rule turned a celebration of indie craft into a public disqualification of one of the year’s most beloved indie games.
Where they stand in the war
Who opposes them
Andrea Iervolino
Film Producer
Italian-Canadian producer behind dozens of features and one of the film industry’s most outspoken AI advocates. He produced what he calls the first feature directed by an AI — a synthetic “director” named FellinAI — while insisting it complements rather than replaces traditional cinema.
Darren Aronofsky
Director
Academy Award-nominated director of Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, and The Whale, and one of the highest-profile filmmakers building AI into the craft. He founded the AI-focused studio Primordial Soup and partnered with Google DeepMind to develop AI-assisted projects.
David Lynch
Director
The surrealist auteur behind Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, and Mulholland Drive, whose dreamlike style gave us the word “Lynchian.” In one of his final interviews, months before his death in January 2025, he called AI “fantastic” and “incredible as a tool for creativity.”
Gareth Edwards
Director
British director of Rogue One, Godzilla, and The Creator who built his career making blockbuster-scale films with tiny crews and lean budgets. A visual-effects artist by training, he sees AI as a tool that could rank alongside the camera — and outdo CGI.
James Cameron
Director
Director of The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, and Avatar, and one of cinema’s great technological pioneers. In 2024 he joined the board of Stability AI, calling the convergence of generative AI and CGI “the next wave” — while arguing it should speed up and empower artists, not replace them.
Martin Scorsese
Director
One of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, and a lifelong champion of film preservation. In 2026 he became an advisor to Black Forest Labs and spoke openly about using AI-generated storyboards in pre-production — framing AI as another tool for communicating a director’s vision, not a replacement for artists.
Canonical record: https://battlelines.ai/topic/indie-game-awards