Many are questioning the nomination of Dave the Diver in the Game Awards. While people have agreed on the game’s high quality and fun gameplay, they are questioning how the committee defines the term “indie.” Concerning this, it seems that a lot of the community doesn’t consider the game as an indie but rather an AA game.
People can view every game nominated for Game of the Year this 2023 on the Game Awards’ official site. They require people to sign in to count their votes.
The Source of the Backlash
“For outstanding creative and technical achievement in a game made outside the traditional publisher system.”
Description of the Best Independent Games
There are five amazing games under the “Best Independent Game” category, with one of them being Dredge, which has sold over a million copies.
The charm of indie games comes from the developer’s creative freedom as they don’t have to compromise with the desires of huge companies. In exchange, however, indie companies face financial struggles. Some are also overworked due to a lack of manpower, as most indie studios are composed of small teams.
Mintrocket is the team behind Dave the Diver. While they are a small studio, it is a subsidiary of a billion-dollar company, Nexon. The question now is how a game with access to billions of funding can be considered indie.
Many people have concluded that Dave the Diver is in the indie category because of its aesthetics and unconventional game design.
People’s Reaction
A lot of people are commenting on Game Awards’ original post about Dave the Diver’s indie nomination.
Audiences even have their suggestions on which games deserve the spot, with the most famous one being Pizza Tower.
Some people have also pointed out that even the developers of Dave the Diver don’t consider themselves as an indie company.
People have also clarified that Dave the Diver is, indeed, a great game. At the end of the day, they are just questioning the Game Awards’ official definition of indie. They think that other games deserve to be in this category.
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