Blue Prince should have been celebrating a major victory. Instead, developer Dogubomb and publisher Raw Fury found themselves scrambling to defend their eight-year passion project against accusations that never should have been made. After inheriting the Indie Game Awards Game of the Year title following Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s disqualification over AI usage, Blue Prince immediately became the target of speculation and misinformation that forced the team to publicly deny any use of generative AI in their acclaimed puzzle adventure.
How Blue Prince Won GOTY by Default
The situation started when Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was stripped of its Indie Game Awards honors on December 20, 2025. The Indie Game Awards discovered that Sandfall Interactive had used generative AI assets during development, despite representatives agreeing during submission that no AI was used. Producer François Meurisse confirmed the AI usage on the same day as the awards premiere, admitting that some AI-generated textures like newspaper clippings and wall scraps were present in the launch build before being patched out within five days.
The awards committee took a hard stance. Their statement made it clear that any use of generative AI during the nomination process or development disqualifies a game from consideration. While the offending assets were quickly removed, the damage was done. Blue Prince, a first-person puzzle strategy game developed by Tonda Ros and his team at Dogubomb, inherited the GOTY award as the next game in line.
The Escapist Article That Started It All
Almost immediately after Blue Prince received the award, controversy erupted. An article from The Escapist suggested that Blue Prince had also used generative AI in its development, offering no concrete evidence to support the claim. The timing was brutal for a team that had spent eight years crafting every detail of their game by hand. The article has since been edited, but not before the accusations spread across social media and gaming communities.
Raw Fury responded swiftly and decisively on December 21, 2025, with a statement on social media that left no room for interpretation. “For people that need confirmation: There is no AI used in Blue Prince,” the publisher declared. “The game was built and crafted with full human instinct by Tonda Ros and his team. It is the result of eight years of development, fuelled by imagination and creativity, and we are extremely proud of what Tonda has achieved.”
What Makes Blue Prince Special
Blue Prince is far from a simple puzzle game. Released on April 10, 2025, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC, the game has players taking on the role of Simon P. Jones, who arrives at the mysterious Mt. Holly Estate. The core mechanic involves drafting rooms to build the mansion as you explore it, creating a unique blend of puzzle-solving, strategy, and roguelite elements.
Players start each run with limited steps, choosing from three randomly drawn room cards every time they open a door. Each room type offers different benefits like additional steps from bedrooms, items from closets, or access to special areas through courtyards. With only 50 steps per day, strategic planning is essential. The goal is to uncover the secrets of the estate and find the rumored 46th room in what should be a 45-room floor plan.
What sets Blue Prince apart is its meta-puzzle design. While the house resets each day, permanent changes can be made, gates can be unlocked forever, and knowledge accumulates across runs. The game features a drafting mechanic similar to deck-building games but without the baggage, tile-based map construction reminiscent of board games like Carcassonne, and mysteries that require hundreds of hours to fully unravel. Critics have praised it as a genre-defying experience that combines mystery, strategy, and puzzles in ways rarely seen.
The Broader AI Controversy in Gaming
The Blue Prince situation reflects a larger crisis in the gaming industry regarding AI transparency and authenticity. Throughout 2025, generative AI has become a flashpoint for controversy. Larian Studios admitted to using AI to “explore ideas,” Wizards of the Coast was caught using AI art for Magic: The Gathering promotional materials after insisting it was human-made, and countless indie developers have faced accusations, both valid and baseless.
The problem has created an atmosphere where developers are guilty until proven innocent. False accusations have become common, with players scrutinizing every game for perceived AI artifacts. Some legitimate human-made art gets flagged simply because it doesn’t meet arbitrary quality standards, while actual AI usage sometimes goes undetected. This witch-hunt mentality has made it nearly impossible for developers to simply create games without defending their artistic integrity.
Why This Matters for Indie Developers
The Blue Prince controversy highlights the precarious position indie developers now occupy. After spending eight years developing a game with entirely human-crafted assets, Dogubomb had to publicly defend their work based on an unsubstantiated article published at the worst possible moment. The accusation came not because of actual evidence, but because the gaming community has become hypersensitive to AI usage in the wake of legitimate scandals.
For small studios without massive PR departments or legal teams, these accusations can be devastating. Even when proven false, the damage to reputation can linger. Raw Fury’s response was necessary because silence would have been interpreted as guilt, justification would have seemed defensive, and anger would have been seen as suspicious. In this environment, developers face an impossible standard where any response can be twisted against them.
The incident also reveals how quickly misinformation spreads in gaming communities. Despite The Escapist editing their article after realizing their error, the accusations had already taken on a life of their own across Reddit, Twitter, and gaming forums. Dogubomb reposted Raw Fury’s statement but has otherwise remained silent, likely recognizing that engaging further would only fuel the controversy.
What Comes Next
As we move into 2026, the debate over AI in gaming is only going to intensify. The lack of uniform disclosure standards has created an environment where every game is suspect, and every developer must prove their innocence. Award bodies like the Indie Game Awards are establishing hard lines against AI usage, but enforcement remains inconsistent and reactive rather than proactive.
For Blue Prince, the controversy is an unfortunate footnote on what should have been a triumphant moment. The game has received critical acclaim across the board, winning PC Gamer’s Best Design award and now the Indie Game Awards GOTY. It represents the kind of creative ambition and meticulous craftsmanship that takes years to achieve. That such a project would need to defend itself against baseless accusations says more about the current state of the industry than it does about the game itself.
The gaming community needs better tools for identifying AI usage and better standards for making accusations. Until then, developers like Dogubomb will continue to pay the price for the sins of studios that actually do hide their AI usage. Blue Prince deserves to be celebrated for what it is, a remarkable achievement in game design that pushed boundaries and created something truly unique without taking shortcuts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Blue Prince actually use AI in its development?
No. Both developer Dogubomb and publisher Raw Fury have explicitly stated that no generative AI was used in Blue Prince’s development. The game was created over eight years entirely by human artists, designers, and developers.
Why was Blue Prince accused of using AI?
The accusations stemmed from an article by The Escapist that suggested AI usage without providing evidence. The article has since been edited, but the claims spread across social media before corrections could be made. The timing coincided with Blue Prince inheriting the Indie Game Awards GOTY after Clair Obscur’s disqualification for actual AI usage.
What happened to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was stripped of its Indie Game Awards GOTY and Best Debut Indie awards after Sandfall Interactive confirmed they used generative AI assets during development. The studio had previously agreed during submission that no AI was used, violating the awards’ strict anti-AI policy.
What type of game is Blue Prince?
Blue Prince is a first-person puzzle strategy adventure with roguelite elements. Players draft rooms to build a mysterious mansion as they explore it, managing limited resources while uncovering secrets and solving meta-puzzles across multiple runs. The game combines deck-building mechanics, tile-based map construction, and mystery-solving.
How long did it take to develop Blue Prince?
Blue Prince took eight years to develop. Developer Tonda Ros and his team at Dogubomb spent nearly a decade crafting the game’s intricate puzzle systems, room drafting mechanics, and layered mysteries, with publisher Raw Fury emphasizing that every aspect was fueled by human imagination and creativity.
Why is AI such a controversial topic in gaming right now?
Generative AI has become controversial because some studios have been caught using AI-generated assets while denying it, violating trust with players and artists. This has created an atmosphere of suspicion where legitimate human-made games face false accusations. The lack of industry-wide disclosure standards has made it difficult to distinguish between games that use AI and those that don’t.
Can players still trust indie game awards after this controversy?
The Indie Game Awards responded appropriately by enforcing their anti-AI policy and stripping Clair Obscur of its awards when violations were discovered. However, the incident revealed challenges in verifying AI usage during the submission process. Award bodies will need stronger verification systems going forward to maintain credibility.
Conclusion
The Blue Prince controversy represents everything wrong with the current AI debate in gaming. A meticulously crafted game that took eight years to develop had to defend itself against baseless accusations at what should have been its moment of triumph. While the Indie Game Awards was right to enforce its anti-AI policy against Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the collateral damage to Blue Prince reveals how toxic the discourse has become. Moving forward, the industry needs better standards for disclosure, verification, and accusation to ensure that legitimate artists aren’t caught in the crossfire. Blue Prince deserves recognition for what it truly is: a remarkable achievement in game design created entirely through human creativity and dedication.