The award-winning Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been such a smashing success that it's only natural that it will influence future role-playing games considerably. However, Verso's voice actor Ben Starr believes that the worst of the video games industry will learn nothing good from the "wrong questions" it will ask as it takes the game apart.
"I think when the opportunistic fingers of capitalism try to take apart this game and its success, I fear they will ask the wrong questions," said the voice actor during a spotlight panel at Emerald City Comic Con 2026 as reported by Popverse. "They will ask how it was made. They will ask the how of it all. The 33 people, the environment, what is the how? But the question they should be asking is the why."
This last question is what will allow others to replicate Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's smashing success. However, Starr is pessimistic, as the industry will not ask itself the correct question. "And I think capitalism is unwilling to ask the why because they’re interested in the how."
Given the current state of the gaming industry, with AI use increasing steadily, it is easy to share Ben Starr's pessimism. Much of the game's success may not just be about capturing what truly made it special, but the high quality of the experience and how the release was handled.
With its art direction being so authentic, it triggered a national antiquities investigation, and with its publisher, Kepler, having released the game at a reasonable price below that of your typical AAA release, it will take more than just effort for anyone to achieve the same level of success as Sandfall Interactive’s incredible role-playing game.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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