With 2025 behind us and The Game Awards now concluded, the year is practically over for gaming enthusiasts. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has come out as this year’s biggest success story for a new studio, sweeping up all the awards and praise from the industry.
At The Game Awards, this title took home 9 awards, including one for ‘Best Indie Game.’ However, this particular win has created controversies, leading to debates about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s status as an indie title.
Over on platforms like Twitter and Reddit, many fans have been pushing back against the argument that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an indie title. As Corkben says, some fans feel there is nothing independent about the production of Sandfall Interactive’s first RPG.
The controversy largely stems from the fact that the RPG had a budget of $10 million. Many fans argue that this is several times higher than the cost required to make a title that would be rightfully considered independent. Elsewhere, fans have pushed back against the narrative that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was made by a team of fewer than 40 developers.
As one Reddit post on r/gamedev points out, the credits featured a team of Korean animators that handled much of the excellent combat animations. Elsewhere, the music had plenty of outsourced contributions too, and these are all clearly visible in the game’s credits, which run for nearly 10 minutes.
There’s also the matter of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being backed by a publisher like Sandfall Interactive compared to other self-published indie hits. Because of these factors and more, many have concluded that the RPG would be more appropriately referred to as a AA production.
This discussion has led some to contemplate the fact that the definition of indie games has perhaps become too muddled over time. Because the average AAA production can cost upwards of $100-200 million today, a $10 million budget and team of less than 100 developers seems very modest by comparison.
Nonetheless, fans believe there’s certainly an argument to be made for an RPG like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 being more of a AA game than an indie production.
