Hit deep-sea exploration RPG Dave the Diver, developed by Nexon’s subsidiary Mintrocket, became the subject of much debate when it received an out-of-place nomination for “Best Independent Game” at the 2023 Game Awards. People pointed out that, as a subsidiary of a major Korean entertainment conglomerate, Mintrocket shouldn’t have been on the list at all. At the same time, due to Dave the Diver’s unique, “indie-esque” visuals and gameplay, many were not even aware of these circumstances, merely assuming that it was an indie title.
The studio itself, however, never claimed their games were indie, and in a recent interview with 4Gamer, Mintrocket CEO and Dave the Diver creator Jaeho Hwang directly addressed the controversy, emphasizing that Mintrocket had nothing to do with the nomination.
“I wonder if people mistook us for an indie studio just because we’re developing games as a small team, or just because our art styles and game systems tend to be unique. For some reason, we also ended up getting nominated for the Best Indie Game award, which caused some people to go, ‘Hey, isn’t that a Nexon game?’, but it’s not like we applied for the award ourselves (laughs).”
As Hwang pointed out, the reason why Dave the Diver ended up on the ballot indeed had nothing to do with Nexon, but rather how the nomination system for the Game Awards works. According to the Game Awards official website, nominees for most categories are chosen by an international jury of over 100 global game media outlets – and most importantly, there is no submission process through which developers can apply themselves.
The Game Awards nomination policy states that all games are automatically eligible for nominations as long as they are released before the given deadline. Furthermore, as a non-exceptional rule, developers and publishers are not made aware of nominated games in advance.
With more than 100 global publications nominating the games, one could argue that they should be aware of the games released by major industry developers, however, it seems like enough of them believed that Dave the Diver truly was an indie game. With the game possibly taking another indie title’s rightful place in the ballot, the backlash was almost inevitable, sparking debate among indie developers. In response, as reported by VGC, The Game Awards executive producer and host Geoff Keighley said he ultimately decided to leave it up to the jury as “independent is a broad term” and “it can mean different things to different people.”
The CEO of Mintrocket, however, explains that it wasn’t their goal to make Dave the Diver feel like an indie game. They’re making games for Nexon, so even if they tried to go for an indie vibe, the fact that it’s a game released by a major studio still stands – which is why trying to do that would be pointless, Hwang suggests.
