Ved Game Awards i December måned opstod der debat eftersom Geoff Keighley (og de deltagende presseoutlets) havde nomineret Dave the Diver i kategorien "Best Independent Game". Udvikleren Mintrocket er dog ikke "independent", de har faktisk en stor udgiver på i form af Nexon.
Debatten opstod dog på baggrund af hvad "indie" reelt set betyder, eftersom CD Projekt RED og Larian reelt set også udgiver deres egne spil. Men er Dave the Diver så et indie-spil? Det mener spillets egen instruktør ikke.
I et interview med PC Gamer fortæller instruktør Jaeho Hwang dette:
"If you ask 'Is Dave The Diver an indie game?' I would say no. I really appreciate all the media and critics for nominating us for the best indie game. That's a big honor for us. There were some Twitter comments saying 'Hey, because Dave The Diver [is nominated], our beloved game Pizza Tower couldn't be nominated. So that was kind of a sad moment for me, maybe we are taking a spot from this indie game and indie developers. I don't want them to think that we are invading their territory. I have a huge respect for them."
Han slår dog fast at holdet bag opfylder hele ideen med indie-produktioner, nemlig at de eksisterer udenfor AAA-branchen, og skal gøre kreativ brug af færre ressourcer:
"We never had a large budget or abundant resources as some people may think. We started with five people and [had] 26 at the peak. But I know the real indie developers work under much harsher conditions. Whether they get invested in or not, they need to do a lot of things by themselves."