We have officially been robbed
In the hours after The Game Awards 2025 ceremony in Los Angeles, the makers of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 found themselves grappling with a familiar human predicament — the gap between deserving and receiving. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a French role-playing game from Sandfall Interactive, claimed nine awards in a single evening, including Game of the Year, leaving Warhorse Studios to process their losses in public. Rather than retreat into silence, they chose the ancient salve of humor, turning their disappointment into a kind of communal performance — a reminder that how we lose can say as much about us as how we win.
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 swept The Game Awards 2025 with a record nine wins, leaving every other nominee — including Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 — without a single trophy.
- Warhorse Studios' communications director declared on social media that his studio had 'officially been robbed,' a line delivered with a smile but carrying a real sting.
- The studio's official account leaned into the absurdity, posting a burning-house meme mid-ceremony and later congratulating Sandfall through a game dialogue option reading 'Blame the French!'
- Co-founder Daniel Vávra joined the chorus of ironic defeat, pairing his congratulations to Sandfall with a quip about flying Air France — as if the universe itself had sided against him.
- Beneath the jokes lies a genuine industry tension: awards carry marketing weight, and losing Game of the Year to the same competitor across multiple categories is a loss that humor can soften but not erase.
The Game Awards 2025 ended in Los Angeles with a decisive and historic result: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, from French developer Sandfall Interactive, claimed nine awards in a single night — a record haul that included Game of the Year, Best RPG, Best Narrative, Best Art Direction, and Best Performance for actress Jennifer English. The sweep was so complete that other nominees, including Silent Hill f and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, left the ceremony empty-handed.
Warhorse Studios, the team behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, chose not to suffer in silence. Communications director Tobias Stolz-Zwilling posted that his studio had been 'officially robbed,' accompanied by a photo of Warhorse and Sandfall staff together — a gesture that framed the complaint as a joke, even if the frustration behind it was genuine. The studio's social media account escalated from there, sharing a burning-house meme during the ceremony itself and later delivering congratulations to Sandfall via a screenshot of an in-game dialogue option with 'Blame the French!' highlighted in bold. The post closed with a heartfelt plea to fans to stay kind.
Co-founder Daniel Vávra added his own wry note, congratulating Sandfall while mentioning he'd be flying Air France the following day — as though even his travel plans had joined the conspiracy against him.
The rivalry has texture worth noting. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 had already sold over four million copies before the ceremony, and it represents a fundamentally different design philosophy than its competitor — one rooted in historical realism and systemic survival rather than cinematic storytelling. That two such distinct visions of the RPG ended up competing head-to-head made the losses feel more pointed.
What Warhorse ultimately produced from the evening wasn't bitterness but content — turning their disappointment into a shared joke with their audience, keeping the conversation alive, and demonstrating that in the modern gaming industry, how you handle losing can itself become a form of winning.
The Game Awards 2025 ceremony in Los Angeles ended with a clear victor: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the French role-playing game from Sandfall Interactive, walked away with nine awards—a record haul that left little room for anyone else to celebrate. The game claimed Game of the Year, Best RPG, Best Narrative, Best Game Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Score & Music, Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game, and Best Performance for actress Jennifer English. It was a sweep so complete that other nominees, including Silent Hill f, went home empty-handed.
But not everyone was gracious about it. Warhorse Studios, the team behind Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, took to social media in the hours after the ceremony to air their frustrations—though they did so with a wink and a smile. Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, the studio's communications director, posted simply: "we have officially been robbed." The message came with a photo of Warhorse staff alongside the Sandfall team at the event, suggesting the complaint was meant as jest, yet the underlying sting was readable between the lines.
The jabs kept coming. During the ceremony itself, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's official X account shared the meme of a dog sitting in a burning house—a visual metaphor for watching your game lose in multiple categories to the same competitor. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had beaten them for Best Narrative, Best Role-Playing Game, and the top prize itself. Later, after the dust settled, Warhorse posted a congratulatory message to Sandfall, but delivered it through a screenshot of a dialogue option from their own game with the words "Blame the French!" highlighted in bold. The post ended with a plea: "And thanks to all of you for your support, we truly love and appreciate you, PLEASE STAY KIND."
Daniel Vávra, one of Warhorse's co-founders, added his own layer of irony to the proceedings. He congratulated Sandfall on their victory but paired it with a quip about flying Air France the next day, as if to suggest that even travel logistics were conspiring against him. The tone throughout was one of performative defeat—the kind of ribbing that happens between competitors who respect each other but aren't quite ready to let go of the loss.
The context matters here. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 had already proven itself commercially successful, surpassing four million copies sold the month before the awards. It's a game built on a fundamentally different philosophy than Clair Obscur: Expedition 33—one that prioritizes historical realism and interconnected systems over cinematic spectacle, asking players to genuinely survive in the late Middle Ages rather than follow a narrative arc. The two games represent different visions of what a role-playing game can be, which made the head-to-head competition at the awards particularly pointed.
What emerged from the evening wasn't genuine animosity but rather the visible friction of the modern gaming industry, where awards carry real weight for marketing and prestige. Warhorse's social media team had clearly decided that humor was the best response to disappointment—turning their loss into content, making their audience complicit in the joke, and keeping the conversation alive long after the ceremony ended. Whether that strategy will soften the sting of losing Game of the Year remains to be seen, but for now, the gaming world has a new rivalry to watch.
Citas Notables
We have officially been robbed— Tobias Stolz-Zwilling, Warhorse Studios Communications Director
Big congrats to Sandfall Interactive, and on top of all that, I am flying with Air France tomorrow— Daniel Vávra, Warhorse Studios co-founder
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did Warhorse Studios feel the need to post about being robbed if they were just joking?
Because the loss was real, even if the tone was light. When you lose Game of the Year to a competitor in multiple categories, you don't just move on silently. The humor is how you process disappointment without looking bitter.
But they sold four million copies. Doesn't commercial success matter more than an award?
It does, and it doesn't. Awards are validation from the industry itself. Sales prove you made something people want; awards prove critics think you made something important. Both matter, just differently.
Do you think Sandfall Interactive understood the posts as friendly ribbing or as genuine frustration?
Probably both. The photo together suggests they got the joke. But there's always a kernel of real feeling under the humor. Warhorse was saying: we made something good, and we think we deserved recognition too.
What does it say about the gaming industry that two studios can compete this way?
It says the stakes are high enough to care, but the community is mature enough to handle losing with grace. Ten years ago, this might have turned ugly. Now it's just two teams acknowledging they both made excellent games and one happened to win.
Will this affect how people perceive either game going forward?
If anything, it makes both games more interesting. It gives them a story, a rivalry. People will remember this moment and think about what made Clair Obscur win when Kingdom Come was also excellent. That's not bad for either studio.