Famitsu asks 191 Japanese developers and celebrities their Game of the Year, and lo and behold, J'RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 wins out

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Ghost of Yotei, Urban Myth Demolition Center, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Mario Kart World make up the rest of the top 5

Monoco readies for battle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
(Image credit: Kepler Interactive)

Famitsu has published its yearly poll, which asks the Japanese games industry for their favorite game of the year, and you'll never guess who won.

For years, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has reached out to Japanese game developers to get some consensus on what the game of the year is among the industry. Last year's winner was Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake, while prior years have seen the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Elden Ring, and Death Stranding. And I'll give you one guess which game won this year (via The Gamer).

Like we've seen with everyone else, Japanese game developers voted Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as their game of the year. Making up the rest of the top five is Ghost of Yotei – which follows 2020's winner Ghost of Tsushima – mystery game Urban Myth Demolition Center, taking third. Meanwhile, Nintendo has double representation with – the real 2025 GOTY – Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World taking the fourth and fifth place spots respectively.

While the Famitsu website doesn't include individual developer selections, these typically get posted online at some point, which is how we found out the hilarious bits of info in 2024, like Final Fantasy 14's Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) voting for only one game – Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail – and former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi voting Castlevania Dominus Collection – a collection of DS Castlevania games he directed – as number one.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director admits Sandfall "tried" AI during the J'RPG's development, but "didn’t like it"

Scott McCrae
Scott McCrae
Contributor

Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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