Former PlayStation boss says it’s “really funny” turn-based JRPGs are so in-demand after he advised Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs not to use the term
A former PlayStation executive has said it is "really funny" that turn-based JRPGs have become so popular, given that he once advised the developers of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 against using the term to describe their game. His comments reflect on how a genre once considered a hard sell to Western audiences and publishers has since found major mainstream success, seemingly proving that earlier industry caution around the "turn-based JRPG" label was overly conservative.
The remark centres on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a French-developed role-playing game that adopts classic turn-based combat and went on to become a breakout critical and commercial hit. The former PlayStation boss's advice not to lean on the "JRPG" or "turn-based" descriptors reportedly stemmed from concerns that such terms could put off a wider audience, an assumption the game's subsequent success appears to have undercut.
- Ex-PlayStation boss finds turn-based JRPGs' resurgence ironically amusing.
- He'd advised Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs to avoid the term.
- The game became a hit despite embracing turn-based combat.
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Role-playing games, or RPGs, let players develop characters and follow a story. In turn-based combat, players and opponents take turns choosing actions, rather than fighting continuously in real time. “JRPG” is a common label for role-playing games associated with Japanese design traditions, though games using those conventions are made elsewhere too.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a role-playing game made by a French studio, with combat based on taking turns. Its success has drawn attention to how players respond to games that use familiar genre labels, and to earlier concerns that those labels might limit a game’s appeal.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Marketing should embrace rather than hide a game's true genre identity. Turn-based JRPGs have passionate audiences who actively seek them out, and Clair Obscur's success demonstrates that quality will find its market when honestly presented. The insistence on obscuring what a game fundamentally is assumes audiences are less sophisticated than they actually are, patronising both creators and players. Confidence in a game's strengths, not strategic avoidance of genre labels, builds the right audience.
The case against
Caution about genre positioning reflects legitimate business experience about how casual audiences approach unfamiliar categories, and such risk management remains valid even when markets later shift. The executive was exercising reasonable pragmatism based on industry data at the time, not dismissing JRPGs; that a game succeeds despite certain positioning doesn't prove those choices were mistaken, as multiple factors drive commercial success. Markets and consumer preferences evolve gradually, and judging past decisions through the lens of later market conditions amounts to hindsight bias rather than genuine evaluation of the strategy's soundness when it was made.