The Vampire Survivors-like Megabonk is one of the big indie hits of the year, selling a million copies in just two weeks and earning a nomination for best debut indie game in The Game Awards 2025. That sort of exposure is a big deal, especially for a small indie release, but developer vedinad said they’re withdrawing from the show for one simple and very understandable reason: Megabonk isn’t actually their first game.
“It’s an honor and a dream for Megabonk to be nominated for TGA, but unfortunately I don’t think it qualifies for the category ‘Debut Indie Game’,” vedinad wrote on X (via Kotaku). "I’ve made games in the past under different studio names, so Megabonk is not my debut game.
“I really appreciate the nomination, support and votes, but it doesn’t feel right in this category. You should vote for another one of the amazing debut titles, they are all amazing games!”
Numerous replies credit vedinad—who signed off the message as John Megabonk—for their honesty, but one or two invoked memories of Dave the Diver, which was nominated for Best Indie Game at The Game Awards in 2023. Dave the Diver looks and plays like an indie game, but was developed by Mintrocket, a division of Korean behemoth Nexon.
That sparked all kinds of interesting conversations about whether facts or vibes should determine whether an ‘indie game’ is really indie—and in fact a year later, Dave the Diver game director Jaeho Hwang weighed in to say that as far as he’s concerned, it’s not an indie game.
(Image credit: Megabonk)
I think it’s also fair to acknowledge that “debut” is something of a flexible term too. Vedinad may have released other games under other studio names (he didn’t say which games, for the record, nor did he specify prior studio names) but so have other nominees: Dispatch developer AdHoc Studios, for example, was founded by veterans of Telltale, while Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 studio Sandfall Interactive is headed up by ex-Ubisoft people.
None of which is meant to suggest any sort of impropriety here, or that other developers should also remove themselves from the category: Just that the instability of the game industry can make determining what is and isn’t a “debut game” a facts-or-vibes debate of its own.
For now, Megabonk is still listed as a Game Awards nominee, and it’s not clear what happens next: If it gets cut from the category or replaced by another game, or if the withdrawal is ignored and people are left to do what they want. I’ve reached out to The Game Awards for comment and will update if I receive a reply.
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