Ben Starr: “The industry needs more new original games!”

Actor Ben Starr, known to players for his roles as Verso in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Clive in Final Fantasy XVI, has spoken out against the industry’s obsession with old franchises. He said that original IPs should take center stage and that developers need to stop looking backward.

Starr admitted that he loves Legacy of Kain and has repeatedly spoken about his desire to work on that series one day. But according to him, even with all his affection for that iconic franchise, what matters more for the industry right now is not reviving the past at any cost, but creating new heroes and new worlds.

As an example, he pointed to the Resident Evil series, noting that it is currently going through an “insanely successful” period. Even so, Starr believes that what matters much more is “the next Clair Obscur” — in other words, a major new game with an original universe, characters, and ideas.

This fixation on popular franchises really is one of the biggest problems in today’s gaming industry. Over the past several years, most major releases have been sequels to famous series, remakes, remasters, or games based on established franchises. And 2026 has been no exception: Gothic 1 Remake, Nioh 3, Resident Evil Requiem, Forza Horizon 6, Titan Quest 2, Lords of the Fallen 2, Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era, Gears of War: E-Day, Grand Theft Auto 6.

At the same time, the success of Clair Obscur and Black Myth: Wukong proves that audiences are still willing to support original projects and new universes, as long as they are backed by a strong visual style, a bold creative vision, clear positioning, and genuinely high-quality execution. In other words, the problem is not that players supposedly do not want anything new, but that major publishers are increasingly unwilling to take risks and invest in new IPs.

In December, it was revealed that some AI-generated placeholder textures accidentally made it into the final release. The studio patched them out, but the Indie Game Awards still stripped Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of its Game of the Year and Best Debut awards.

Still, for the team, another recognition mattered more. Final Fantasy was a key inspiration behind the game — and when leading developers from the series named Expedition 33 their game of the year, Svedberg-Yen didn’t hide her emotions.

Do you also feel that the industry is lacking new, original projects?