It sounds like a detail from an alternate universe now, but former Sony Interactive president Shuhei Yoshida was convinced turn-based JRPGs were too unpopular while Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was in development. So he advised its publisher, Kepler Interactive, to describe the 2025 game as something different from what it actually was, and the studio listened.
Yoshida spoke about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and the guidance he'd given other indie publishers during his tenure as PlayStation's indie division lead during the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2026, reports Japanese site 4Gamer, in a write-up which was translated by Automaton. Yoshida recalls during his Busan Indie Connect lecture informing indie studios on how to pick the best publisher that he was impressed by Expedition 33 when he played the game two years early, but he wasn't optimistic about its allegiance to vintage, turn-based JRPGs.
Baldur's Gate 3 refreshed the public's memory about the simple pleasures of turn-based combat when it launched in 2023, but Yoshida felt sure that most new turn-based games were overlooked around that time for being unfashionable.
Fellow AA hits like Lies of P suggested players at the time wanted their combat to be action-based and brutal. So while Yoshida loved Expedition 33's "combination of turn-based JRPG mechanics and real-time action inputs reminiscent of The Legend of Dragoon" – the PS1 fantasy game Yoshida produced in 1999 – he was skeptical. Developer Sansdall Interactive heeded his warnings about the turn-based genre and started promoting Expedition 33 in broader terms, touting its "reactive turn-based battles."
"It's incredibly well-made," Yoshida remembers informing Sandfall, "but it would be better not to call it a turn-based RPG. That alone might cause players to overlook it.”
But Yoshida offers this anecdote as an example of why trend-chasing publishers may sometimes find their efforts unnecessary. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 ultimately released to an infrared blast of praise, critical acclaim, and it earned a historic number of GOTY awards.
Its genre might have been more suited to 1991 than 2025, but that made no difference once audiences got smacked with Expedition 33's quality. Yoshida says, after the game's success, publishers have been receiving more pitches for turn-based RPGs.
So, after all of its GOTY wins and accidentally revitalizing a genre, here's another best-case scenario for Expedition 33: it set a trend instead of following one.
