Geoff Keighley explains why Dave the Diver has been nominated as an indie game

destructoid.com:

The annual The Game Awards ceremony is coming up, and thanks to the amazing titles we’ve received this year, the competition is tight. Host Geoff Keighley recently had a Twitch stream where he addressed questions from the public and spoke a bit about why Dave the Diver has found itself in the Best Independent Game category.

As Keighley highlights, people interpret the term indie differently. While some might consider a game’s budget, others will look at the team’s size, and it’s also possible to focus on the aesthetic or scale of the game. Consequently, some have argued that Baldur’s Gate 3 is an indie game, or even Death Stranding which was created by an independent studio despite receiving major funding from PlayStation.

In the case of Dave the Diver, the game is made by Mintrocket which is a small, South Korean group. The group is a part of Nexon which is a very large publisher. Keighley explains that you could argue both ways, as the game could be considered indie in spirit, as it is made by a small team that likely had a relatively small budget. However, this doesn’t cancel the fact that it is still from a larger entity.

Ultimately, Keighley concludes that there are no set rules, and The Game Awards allows people to “use their best judgment.” Although TGA judges have decided that it is an indie title, this is certainly not a viewpoint shared by all.

As Zoey Handley argues, the indie category should be available for smaller developers without major financial backing to still receive the spotlight. Dave the Diver‘s nomination potentially signals “that any major corporation can produce a game with pixel art graphics to buy away that recognition.” One can easily see how this could end up pushing genuinely small