Sultan’s Game from Chinese developer Double Cross Studio and publisher 2P Games won the Grand Prize Award (Game of the Year) at INDIE Live Expo 2025 Winter on December 1, beating over 100 indie titles showcased during the event. The ceremony honored the best indie games released or updated in 2025 under the theme Creativity Unbound, with Sultan’s Game standing out for its dark narrative-driven strategy that explores sensitive themes like sexual power and same-sex emotions rarely seen in Chinese game development. The win caps a remarkable year for the March 2025 release, which sold 250,000 copies on Steam in its first week and became China’s breakout indie hit of the year despite its controversial subject matter.
What Is Sultan’s Game
Sultan’s Game blends card mechanics, strategy, and resource management with a dark narrative-driven story set in a fictional medieval Middle Eastern sultanate. Players take the role of a minister forced to play the Sultan’s twisted card game after a mysterious sorceress places the ruler under a spell. Each week, players draw one card from four categories representing Carnality (lust), Extravagance (luxury), Conquest, and Bloodshed, then have seven days to fulfill the card’s demands or face execution. Morality is never questioned as players navigate a world where lust and bloodshed intertwine, making impossible decisions to survive beneath the Sultan’s blade.
The game features butterfly effect storytelling where every choice creates rippling consequences, influencing character relationships and determining the fate of the entire world. Players use cards to deploy allies, resources, and objectives while crafting strategies to survive deadly challenges. Sultan’s Game offers over 50 unique endings across countless playthroughs, with unlockable hidden storylines and powerful items using Fate Points earned through repeated runs. The narrative draws inspiration from One Thousand and One Nights, creating branching paths where interactions with NPCs can unlock entirely different endings, from becoming a trusted minister to orchestrating rebellion or summoning dark forces.
Breaking Chinese Gaming Norms
Sultan’s Game stands out as a norm-defying Chinese indie title willing to explore themes that most domestic developers avoid due to regulatory concerns and conservative market expectations. The game weaves together power struggles, desire, and human nature while explicitly addressing sexual power dynamics and same-sex emotions, content that breaks away from the safe narratives dominating Chinese game development. This bold approach made Sultan’s Game the first notable domestic single-player title from China to achieve mainstream success in 2025 despite, or perhaps because of, its willingness to tackle controversial subjects.
Double Cross Studio is a small development team based in Hangzhou, China, led by two developers with rich backgrounds in translation, novel writing, and extensive mobile game experience. The creator-centered team made the conscious decision to shift from mobile to single-player PC platforms specifically to create projects with fewer content restrictions, greater freedom, and more artistic narrative possibilities. Sultan’s Game represents their first single-player project and a bold experiment in pushing boundaries that Chinese game developers typically respect to avoid regulatory problems or market backlash.
Commercial Success Story
The game launched March 31, 2025 priced at approximately $10.88 in the China region with a discounted launch price around $9.80 for the first two weeks. Within seven days, Sultan’s Game reached 250,000 sales on Steam, an extraordinary achievement for a Chinese indie game tackling controversial themes. The rapid success made Sultan’s Game a trending topic among Chinese gamers and positioned it as one of the year’s most significant indie breakout hits from the region. Since launch, the developers have released several content updates adding new characters, storylines, and improved multilingual localization to expand the audience beyond China.
The commercial performance is particularly impressive given the difficult circumstances facing Chinese indie developers. During China’s two-year game licensing freeze, many studios downsized or shut down entirely, with laid-off developers turning to indie development out of necessity rather than choice. The market became hypercompetitive as refugees from AAA and mobile development flooded the indie space, creating what one developer described as escaping the red ocean for a promised land, only to find that PC gamers care about fun, not price. Sultan’s Game succeeded by prioritizing compelling narrative and unique themes over safe, marketable concepts.
INDIE Live Expo Context
INDIE Live Expo is a live digital showcase connecting indie game fans worldwide that has accumulated more than 100 million total views since its 2020 debut. The Winter 2025 edition showcased over 100 indie titles with world premieres, publisher showcases, and the awards ceremony honoring exceptional indie releases from the past year. Excellence Awards went to BALL x PIT, Word Game, Escape From Duckov, The NOexistenceN of you AND me, Demonic Mahjong, Promise Mascot Agency, No I’m not a Human, and Öoo, with notable recommenders including industry veterans Shuhei Yoshida and Brandon Sheffield.
The event also announced a new partnership between INDIE Live Expo and BitSummit, the Japanese indie game festival, with additional details to be revealed soon. Publisher 2P Games, who publishes Sultan’s Game, used the opportunity to spotlight additional titles including Kotama and Academy Citadel (3D metroidvania projects from Atomstring Games) and R.I.P. Reincarnation Insurance Program (a top-down looter shooter from WarmCore Studio headed to Steam Early Access). Select titles presented during the showcase received discounts during the INDIE Live Expo Steam Sale running through December 6, 2025.
What This Win Means
Sultan’s Game winning the Grand Prize legitimizes narrative-focused indie games willing to explore mature, controversial themes rather than playing it safe with market-tested concepts. The win sends a signal to Chinese developers that international audiences and industry tastemakers appreciate bold creative risks even when domestic markets might be skeptical. For Double Cross Studio, the recognition validates their decision to abandon mobile development for single-player PC games with fewer content restrictions and greater artistic freedom.
The success also highlights the growing sophistication of Chinese indie development beyond the survival crafting and roguelike titles that dominated earlier waves. Sultan’s Game proves that Chinese studios can create narrative-driven experiences with thematic complexity comparable to Western and Japanese indie darlings. Whether this opens doors for more Chinese developers to tackle sensitive subjects or remains an outlier depends on how publishers and developers interpret the game’s commercial and critical success relative to the regulatory risks involved.
FAQs
What is Sultan’s Game?
Sultan’s Game is a dark narrative card game blending strategy, resource management, and storytelling. Players serve a twisted sultan, drawing cards each week representing Carnality, Extravagance, Conquest, or Bloodshed, then completing deadly tasks within seven days or facing execution.
When did Sultan’s Game release?
Sultan’s Game launched on Steam on March 31, 2025, developed by Chinese studio Double Cross and published by 2P Games. It reached 250,000 sales in its first week.
Why did Sultan’s Game win at INDIE Live Expo?
Sultan’s Game won the Grand Prize Award (Game of the Year) at INDIE Live Expo 2025 Winter for its bold narrative exploring sensitive themes, butterfly effect storytelling with 50+ endings, and strategic card-based gameplay.
What makes Sultan’s Game controversial?
The game explores themes like sexual power and same-sex emotions rarely addressed in Chinese games, breaking away from conservative narratives that dominate domestic development due to regulatory concerns and market expectations.
How much does Sultan’s Game cost?
Sultan’s Game is priced at approximately $10.88 USD (RMB 80 in China). The game launched with a discounted price around $9.80 for the first two weeks and frequently appears in Steam sales.
Who developed Sultan’s Game?
Double Cross Studio, a small team based in Hangzhou, China led by developers with backgrounds in translation, novel writing, and mobile game development. This is their first single-player PC project after shifting from mobile to pursue greater creative freedom.
Does Sultan’s Game have multiple endings?
Yes, Sultan’s Game features over 50 unique endings across multiple playthroughs. Choices create butterfly effects influencing character relationships and world fate, with hidden storylines unlockable using Fate Points earned through repeated runs.
Conclusion
Sultan’s Game winning Game of the Year at INDIE Live Expo 2025 represents a watershed moment for Chinese indie development. The fact that a small team from Hangzhou created a narrative-driven card game exploring controversial themes, sold 250,000 copies in a week, and earned international recognition shows that creative boldness can succeed even in challenging market conditions. Double Cross Studio’s decision to abandon safe mobile game development for single-player PC titles with artistic freedom paid off spectacularly, proving that audiences worldwide hunger for unique stories regardless of where developers are based or what regulatory environments they navigate. Whether Sultan’s Game inspires more Chinese developers to take similar creative risks or remains an exceptional outlier will define the next chapter of the region’s indie scene. For now, it stands as proof that compelling narrative and thematic courage can break through even the most crowded markets.