Megabonk developer withdraws game from The Game Awards, saying it's ineligible for debut indie title

Megabonk developer Vedinad withdrew its game from The Game Awards after being nominated for Best Indie Game, saying it was ineligible for the category.

in a Post to Twitter/X Today, vedinad announced the news on the official Megabonk account:

“I'm quitting The Game Awards.

“It's an honor and a dream for Megabonk to be nominated for a TGA, but unfortunately I don't think it qualifies for the 'Debut Indie Game' category

“I have made games under different studio names in the past, so Megabonk is not my debut 🥸

“I really appreciate the nominations, support and votes, but it just doesn't feel right in this category. You should be voting for another amazing debut game, they are all amazing games!

“Thanks again! New megabonk update coming soon✌️”

Updated at 2.23pm PT: Megabonk is listed as a Best Debut Indie Game nominee along with Blue Prince, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Despelote, and Dispatch. Since publishing the statement, The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley has shared a statement of his own acknowledging the request and stating that Megabonk will be removed In Twitter/X post. As of this update, Megabonk is still listed as a nominee on the Game Awards website.

“Best Debut Indie Game nominee @MegabonkGame has proactively clarified that he is an established indie developer who has been presenting himself as a new creator under the name Vedinad.

“We appreciate his honesty. As a result, MegaBonk will be removed from this category.

“He will share more about his story when he's ready, but we respect that he doesn't want to take away recognition from other debuting teams – even though the game itself was outstanding.”

The original story continues as follows:

Crucially, the Best Debut Indie Game was awarded to “Best Debut Game Made by a New Indie Studio.” So what qualifies as a new independent studio? This definition can definitely get a little blurry – game development teams are often ships of Theseus, with certain groups banding together, hiring others, and rebranding. For example, Dispatch is produced by AdHoc Studio and is the team’s collective first original game. However, AdHoc was established A team of Ubisoft and Telltale developers who have worked together before. Geometric Interactive's Cocoon won Debut Indie in 2023 and is arguably in a similar situation to the former developer of Playdead. But by that logic, it's also unlikely that anyone's “first game” would make it into The Game Awards, since most people's first projects are small, student, or experimental.

Vidinad's argument makes more sense at least to himself, since he is actually an independent developer and has worked on other projects under other names. But even individual developers get help: Miguel Angel, for example, is credited with the OST, Giovanni Fim made the Steam art, and a handful of people are listed as playtesters, as well as a “special thanks” to Vedinad's mom. Vedinad seems to be the closest thing to an indie developer. What exactly is a game studio?

What it ultimately seems to boil down to is that there's at least some level of confusion over what the Game Awards categories actually mean. This isn't the first time this has happened. In 2023, the game “Dave the Diver” produced by a subsidiary of South Korean gaming giant Nexon was shortlisted for the Best Independent Game Award, leading TGA founder Geoff Keighley responds Indie games can “mean different things to different people,” even Director admits nominations are confusing. We've also seen some weird stuff, like Sifu winning Best Fighting Game of 2022 (it's an action fighting game), and even some recent surprises like Monster Hunter: Wild being nominated for Best RPG this year.

You can define it however you want, but the developers of Megabonk have said it, and so has Keighley. you can Learn about all the other 2025 nominees hereand Check out our early thoughts on Megabonk here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter at IGN. You can find her posts at BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Have a story tip? Send it to [email protected].