The developer behind Steam hit roguelike survival game Megabonk was nominated Monday for Best Debut Indie Game at The Game Awards. On Tuesday, the developer known only as vedinad said that he was withdrawing Megabonk from contention, saying that “unfortunately i don’t think it qualifies for the category.”
On the Megabonk X account, vedinad (aka “John Megabonk”) posted about withdrawing the game from this year’s award, further explaining his reasoning.
“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,'” the developer said in a post spotted by 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!”
According to The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, the Best Debut Indie Game “recognizes a development team that hasn’t won a Game Award before.” Teams eligible “published their first games this year,” Keighley said during Monday’s nominations announcement livestream. The Game Awards website describes the category as recognizing the “best debut game created by a new independent studio.”
The developer known as vedinad only has one game under that Steam developer account: Megabonk. vedinad has not publicly revealed what other games he was involved in. vedinad’s identity has been the source of intense speculation, with one oft-posted theory being that he is Dani (aka danidev), the popular YouTuber and game developer behind Crab Game (a Squid Game-like) and Muck (a roguelike survival game).
Shortly after vedinad withdrew Megabonk‘s nomination, Keighley responded on X to say the dev’s request was granted. “We’re grateful for his honesty. As a result, MegaBonk will be removed from the category,” Keighley wrote.
The Game Awards 2025 will take place on Dec. 11, minus one Megabonk.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect that The Game Awards will honor vedinad’s request to remove Megabonk from consideration.
