The games industry has a nostalgia problem, and Ben Starr is not shy about saying it. Best known as the voice of Verso in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Clive in Final Fantasy 16, Starr used a panel at Emerald City Comic-Con 2026 to make a case that the industry needs to stop reaching backward and start building something new.
What Starr actually said at ECCC 2026
The topic came up naturally. Starr mentioned his long-standing affection for Legacy of Kain, the dormant action-adventure franchise about vampires and free will, and acknowledged he would love to be part of a revival. But he caught himself.
"This is a panel about Clair Obscur: Expedition 33," he said, "and I think the reason we're here is because original IP in 2026 should be king. We shouldn't be looking back."
He kept the door open on Legacy of Kain specifically, citing the performances that shaped him as an actor. The nuance matters here: Starr is not arguing that legacy franchises are worthless. He is arguing that the industry's default setting, sequels, remakes, and adaptations, is the wrong one.
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Starr's comments came during a live panel discussion at Emerald City Comic-Con 2026, where he appeared alongside fellow Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 cast members Jennifer English and Aliona Baranova.The AAA release slate makes his point for him
Look at the biggest releases lined up for 2026 and it is hard to argue with Starr's read. GTA 6 is a sequel to a franchise that launched in 1997. Halo: Campaign Evolved is a re-remake. Marvel's Wolverine is an adaptation of a character who has been in continuous media circulation for over 50 years. These are not bad games by definition, but they represent a pattern.
Starr pointed to Resident Evil as a counter-example worth respecting, calling the franchise's current run "insanely good." Even so, his preference is clear: "I'd rather be in the next whatever Clair Obscur is. Let's originate characters. That's what we should be looking towards."
The key here is that Starr is not making this argument from a position of ignorance about franchise appeal. He voiced one of the most recognizable characters in Final Fantasy 16, a series that has been running since 1987. He knows exactly what legacy IP means to players.
Expedition 33's original combat system
Why this argument lands differently coming from Starr
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a genuinely original property from Sandfall Interactive, a studio that built something from scratch and ended up with one of the most talked-about RPGs in recent memory. The game took home Best Indie at The Game Awards, a win that sparked real debate about what "indie" even means in 2025, but the underlying point stands: a brand-new world with brand-new characters connected with players in a way that many sequels fail to.
Starr has been vocal before about worrying that the industry will draw the wrong conclusions from Expedition 33's success, copying the surface-level aesthetics rather than understanding why the game worked. This ECCC comment fits that same thread. The lesson is not "make a French-inspired turn-based RPG." The lesson is "take a real creative risk on something that does not exist yet."
For players, that argument translates directly to what ends up on store pages. More original IP means more genuine surprises, more characters nobody has met before, more worlds that feel genuinely new. The alternative is a release calendar that looks increasingly like a museum gift shop. Make sure to check out more:
