The debate surrounding the definition of an 'indie game', which briefly surfaced a couple of years ago due to Dave the Diver, has flared up once again.

This latest squabble kicked off on August 29th, following a post on the official Prince of Persia X account. The post described The Rogue: Prince of Persia, which officially launched on August 21st, as a title created by a 'small team with an indie scale and a lot of passion for the game'.

The crux of the controversy lies in the phrase 'indie scale'. Given that the industry titan Ubisoft is handling the publishing for The Rogue: Prince of Persia, netizens were quick to point out, 'It is difficult to label this game as indie when it receives financial backing from a massive corporation.'

As the backlash intensified, the official account countered by stating, 'The developer, Evil Empire, is an indie studio.' However, the debate rages on, with Programancer, the developer of Prison City, directly quoting the post to argue that 'indie is not about the genre, team size, or vibe, but about being independent from the funding and decision-making of large corporations or organizations.'

This kind of discourse saw a similar surge back in 2023 with Dave the Diver. At the time, the game was nominated for 'Best Indie Game' at The Game Awards 2023. This led to pushback from players who argued, 'Since the developer, MINTROCKET, is a subsidiary of Nexon, one of the major domestic game companies, Dave the Diver cannot be classified as an indie game.'

In response, Director Hwang Jae-ho of Dave the Diver clarified, 'We have never claimed that Dave the Diver is an indie game.' Furthermore, Geoff Keighley, the host of The Game Awards, previously noted that 'indie' is a broad term that holds various meanings for different people, making it notoriously difficult to establish rigid standards.