Overview

• Jaeho Hwang said Dave the Diver was never intended to be an indie game because it was developed within Nexon’s internal Mintrocket studio.
• He confirmed that neither he nor Mintrocket applied for the Best Indie Game nomination at The Game Awards.
• Geoff Keighley has explained that indie nominees are selected by a 120-member global media jury using a wide-ranging interpretation of independence.
• Despite its indie nod, Dave the Diver lost the 2023 Best Indie Game award to Sea of Stars from Quebec’s Sabotage Studio.
• The debate has largely settled on how The Game Awards defines independent titles rather than the game’s corporate backing.