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.
