Introduction: The industry’s stubbornly elastic label
The Game Awards nominations have arrived, and they once again spotlight a paradox that has long vexed fans and critics: what does it actually mean for a game to be labeled “indie”? As Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Donkey Kong Bananza, Hades 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance vie for the Game of the Year trophy, the boundary between indie and blockbuster feels fuzzier than ever.
The six contenders and what their labels say about today’s market
Among the nominees, a few clear threads emerge. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is widely pitched as a smaller, independent project with a lean team and a cycle of crowdfunding. Hollow Knight: Silksong comes from Team Cherry, still often described as indie despite its high production values. Hades 2 represents Supergiant Games, a studio with a cult-like independence but substantial player reach. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach hails from Kojima Productions, a studio with a pedigree that invites expectations of blockbuster scale. Donkey Kong Bananza, a Nintendo release, sits in a different category altogether—retro nostalgia married to modern console power. Kingdom Come: Deliverance, from Warhorse Studios, layers a grounded, realism-focused approach that fans often categorize as indie-leaning craftsmanship even as it scales in ambition.
What’s striking isn’t the mix of genres, but the range of studio sizes and funding models within a single GOTY shortlist. The Game Awards panel seems to reward risk, craft, and distinctive vision, regardless of whether a project is backed by a publisher with deep pockets or a tiny team scraping by on crowdfunding and freelance talent.
Is ‘indie’ still a useful term?
The word indie originated to distinguish smaller, independently financed projects from those produced under major publishers. But today’s landscape makes the distinction porous. A studio that started as indie can secure substantial investor backing; a traditionally “major” project can maintain a lean, author-driven voice. The Game Awards lineup reflects that drift: creative ambition and unique gameplay mechanics have become the real currency, while the label itself becomes less reliable as a signal of intent.
Why the label matters to audiences
For players, “indie” once suggested fresh ideas, tighter storytelling, and a selective risk profile. Now, those ideas can come from teams of varying sizes, with distribution paths that blur the old lines. The nominations invite audiences to focus on the game’s experience rather than the origin story of its funding. The deeper question becomes: should the industry redefine what counts as indie, or retire the term in favor of value-driven descriptors such as innovation, craftsmanship, and narrative risk?
Implications for developers and award organizers
Developers are watching closely how awards committees weigh ambition against budget. For indie developers, a GOTY nomination remains a rare and coveted achievement; for larger studios, it’s a badge of credibility that can deepen fan trust and broaden reach. Awards organizers, meanwhile, face a practical challenge: honor a spectrum of production scales without diluting the prestige of the prize or reheating debates about funding ethics and visibility.
Conclusion: A status update for a changing industry
As seen in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and its peers, the term indie is less a precise category than a spectrum of creative freedom and resourcefulness. The 2025 Game Awards nomination slate demonstrates that the industry’s future lies less in where money comes from and more in the quality of the experience delivered to players.
