Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative director Guillaume Broche said his team would have preferred The Game Awards' indie categories go to smaller studios, according to an Edge magazine interview conducted before the December ceremony. The French RPG won both Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards 2025, sweeping the indie categories despite Broche's reservations.
Broche described Expedition 33 as "more towards triple-I" in terms of budget, noting the 3D graphics don't fit traditional indie expectations. Lead programmer Tom Guillermin added the project started as indie but grew beyond that scope during development. "We'd rather this category went to a smaller studio," Broche told Edge. "I don't think we really needed this nomination, even if it's appreciated."
The game is tied with PlayStation's Ghost of Yotei for most DICE Awards 2026 nominations, with eight total each. Both titles appear in the Game of the Year category alongside Blue Prince, Dispatch, and Arc Raiders. The 29th Annual DICE Awards ceremony takes place February 12, 2026 at the Aria Resort in Las Vegas.
Expedition 33 actors Jennifer English and Maxence Cazorla received nominations for their performances as Melle and Esquie. The game's DICE recognition follows its dominant showing at The Game Awards, where it collected nine total awards including Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game.
The indie category debate highlights ongoing questions about The Game Awards' classification system. GamesRadar notes similar controversies with Dave the Diver, which won indie awards despite being published by Nexon subsidiary Mintrocket. The publication questions where the cutoff exists between indie and major studio productions.
Dispatch and Blue Prince appear in DICE's Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game category alongside Devolver Digital's Baby Steps, Hexecutable's Consume Me, and Panic Inc.'s Despelote. Former Naughty Dog co-CEO Evan Wells will be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame during the DICE ceremony, presented by Neil Druckmann.
Broche's pre-award comments reflect growing industry discussion about indie classification as mid-sized studios like Sandfall Interactive, Expedition 33's developer, compete against smaller teams with limited resources. The DICE Awards nominations announcement comes as the industry continues debating award category definitions and studio size classifications.
