Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 just enjoyed a record-breaking night at The Game Awards 2025 by sweeping nine trophies out from Geoff Keighley's closet, and the game's director, Guillaume Broche, took the opportunity to thank the man who inspired him to become a game dev in the first place and influenced the entire genre that led up to Clair Obscur.
"I want to extend a thank you to the unsung hero of this industry: the people who make tutorials on YouTube on how to make a game, because we had no idea how to make a game before," Broche said during his acceptance speech for Game of the Year. "And I'll extend a personal thank you to an important man in my life, Mr Hironobu Sakaguchi, who made me fall in love with games and inspired me to become a game dev."
That's Hironobu Sakaguchi, the JRPG icon who created and directed the first five Final Fantasy games before producing and sometimes penning future titles up until Final Fantasy 9. Sakaguchi's resume didn't get any less impressive when he left Square Enix, either, as the famed developer then put out cult classics like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and Fantasian.
Just last month, Broche gushed about the Xbox 360's Lost Odyssey and its influence on Clair Obscur. In fact, developer Sandfall Interactive has been open about how the JRPGs that came before massively inspired the game, so it's no surprise to see Broche once again crediting one of the subgenre's most important artists.
All the praise didn't fall on deaf ears, too, with Sakaguchi responding to the shout-out in a social media post: "I applaud your outstanding game creation."
"What a weird timeline for us," Broche said elsewhere in his speech. "I have no idea what's happening. Well, I want to thank the incredible team at Sandfall Interactive. They are not watching from home as we bought literally everybody here to celebrate with us, so I love you guys."
