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Technically, Megabonk dropped out of TGA, but there are plenty of other awards to win
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(Image credit: Kepler Interactive)
Indie megahit Megabonk may have officially dropped out of The Game Awards after being nominated for Debut Indie Game along with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but voice actor Ben Starr is nonetheless readying himself for a public bonking.
Starr, the silky voice of Expedition 33's possibly evil Verso, and Maelle actor Jennifer English share their thoughts on the French JRPG's stuffed awards season in a new video with Future Games Show, which asks them to predict how many categories Clair Obscur will win at this year's awards shows. The JRPG and developer Sandfall Interactive crushed the Golden Joystick Awards like a beer can, winning seven categories, and they're up for a record-breaking total of 12 nominations at the upcoming Game Awards. With that in mind, "Don't know," both Starr and English say.
Verso meets Maelle IRL | Ben Starr and Jennifer English spoil Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 - YouTube
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"It's going to lose to Megabonk in all [19 category nominations]," Starr adds jokingly. "I don't know."
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Sandfall says Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 winning GOTY "isn't something we aim for," and even though it would be a "nice little bonus," it's rooting for Megabonk
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Roguelike superstar drops out of The Game Awards because Megabonk "is not my debut game," but fans beg solo dev to reconsider: "Wait until you hear about 'indie' games in the indie category that are backed by multi-billion-dollar corps"
Actually, Megabonk's solo developer decided to withdraw from The Game Awards after explaining they've made other games in the past and don't "feel right" in the 'Debut Indie Game' category – though some fans urged them to stay in the race if a huge game like Expedition 33 got to fudge the rules and classify as "indie," too.
Starr likely wouldn't be disturbed by this debate. "I really, really stand by this, and I will stand by this for the rest of my career," he continues to say in the Future Games Show video: "a game doesn't need to win awards in order for it to be justifiably excellent, because your relationship with that video game in the context in which you play is the most important thing."
"Some person's game of the year is going to be another person's worst game of all time," Starr concludes, and then shrugs. "Because that's the beauty of opinion."
Despite the JRPG love letter dominating award shows, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative lead insists the game really was "not supposed to be big."
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Ashley BardhanSenior WriterAshley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.
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Palworld lead and Pocketpair founder says Megabonk dev is "one of the game developers I respect the most" as the solo indie creator withdraws his roguelike hit from The Game Awards
Sandfall says Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 winning GOTY "isn't something we aim for," and even though it would be a "nice little bonus," it's rooting for Megabonk
Roguelike superstar drops out of The Game Awards because Megabonk "is not my debut game," but fans beg solo dev to reconsider: "Wait until you hear about 'indie' games in the indie category that are backed by multi-billion-dollar corps"
Despite the JRPG love letter dominating award shows, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 creative lead insists the game really was "not supposed to be big"
The Game Awards 2025 has Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as the most-nominated game in the show's history, while Arc Raiders is up for just one category
Not even Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs can believe it's the most-nominated Game Awards title in history: "There are so many deserving, precious games from this year"
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