The voice behind some of gaming’s most memorable recent characters, English actor Ben Starr, has issued a compelling critique of the industry’s current trajectory. In comments made during a discussion about the new IP Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Starr passionately argued for a decisive shift towards original intellectual properties. While expressing his own fondness for classic franchises like Legacy of Kain, he starkly predicts that 2026 must be the year where new ideas become the norm, signaling a potential end for the relentless recycling of past successes. His remarks strike at the heart of a critical debate as the AAA sector grapples with layoffs, studio closures, and a stifling creative environment, questioning whether a path forward can be built solely by looking backward.
Ben Starr’s Vision: A Pivot to Originality by 2026
Ben Starr, celebrated for his powerful performance as Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy XVI and roles in titles like Fortnite, is not merely commenting from the sidelines. His involvement in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 places him directly at the forefront of the very type of project he champions. Starr’s call is precise and time-bound. He contends that the industry’s focus must radically change, with 2026 serving as a target for when original IP should become the dominant trend rather than the exception. His argument is rooted in a belief in progress, stating the path should always be forward with new proposals. This isn’t a naive disregard for gaming history but a pragmatic appeal for balance and evolution, suggesting that an over-reliance on legacy franchises is ultimately a dead-end strategy for a creative medium.
The Clair Obscur Example: Why New IP Matters
Starr’s comments were deliberately framed within the context of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a new intellectual property from Sandfall Interactive. He pointed to the game itself as the raison d’être for the discussion, highlighting the inherent value and excitement generated by fresh worlds and unexplored narratives. “I think the reason why we’re here is because it’s a new IP,” Starr noted, underscoring that such projects generate unique anticipation and cultural moments that sequels and reboots often struggle to match. New IPs like this represent risk, but they also represent the lifeblood of the industry, introducing novel mechanics, artistic styles, and stories that expand the medium’s boundaries. They are the foundation upon which future classic franchises are built, without which the industry’s “past” would never have existed.
The Legacy of Kain Paradox: Nostalgia Versus Innovation
Significantly, Starr’s advocacy for new IP is not born from contempt for older series. He openly acknowledged his personal desire to be part of a revival of Legacy of Kain, a cult classic franchise beloved by many. This admission adds considerable weight to his argument. It demonstrates a nuanced understanding that fandom and nostalgia have their place, but that they should not dictate the entire industry’s output. The paradox lies in loving the past while consciously choosing to invest in the future. Starr’s position suggests that the energy and resources poured into resuscitating decades-old franchises—often with mixed results—could be more productively channeled into cultivating the Legacy of Kain equivalents of tomorrow, ensuring the industry’s cultural relevance continues to grow.
Industry Turbulence: Why Creativity is Under Threat
Starr’s predictions arrive during a period of profound instability within the video game sector, particularly for large-scale AAA development. Widespread layoffs, studio shutdowns, and project cancellations have created an atmosphere of extreme risk-aversion. In such a climate, publishers and executives often retreat to proven, bankable entities—sequels, remakes, and safe franchise extensions—deeming new IP too financially hazardous. This creates a vicious cycle: financial pressures kill creative risks, which leads to market saturation with familiar products, which can eventually lead to audience fatigue, further exacerbating financial pressures. Starr’s call for 2026 is, therefore, a challenge to break this cycle. It implies that the relentless focus on the past is not a solution to the industry’s troubles but may be a contributing factor to its creative stagnation and commercial vulnerability.
The Financial and Cultural Stakes of Endless Franchises
The economic argument for franchise reliance is clear: established names come with built-in audience recognition, reducing marketing costs and perceived launch risk. However, this short-term security can breed long-term fragility. Franchise decay, fan backlash over changes, and the law of diminishing returns on iterative sequels are real dangers. Culturally, an industry dominated by reboots signals a lack of confidence in its own ability to generate new myths, ceding ground to other media. When gaming stops being a source of original cultural phenomena and becomes primarily a curator of its own history, its vitality diminishes. Investing in new IP is an investment in the industry’s future identity and its capacity to attract new generations of players with fresh ideas, not just nostalgia.
What a 2026 Focus on New IP Would Require
For Starr’s 2026 prediction to materialize, a systemic shift would be necessary. It would require publishers to deliberately allocate significant portions of their portfolios and budgets to original projects, treating them not as fringe experiments but as core pillars. This involves nurturing smaller, agile teams like Sandfall Interactive and providing them with the resources and runway needed to innovate. It also means re-evaluating success metrics beyond blockbuster-first-week-sales, considering factors like critical acclaim, community building, and long-tail engagement. Platforms and digital storefronts could play a role by featuring and promoting new IP more aggressively. Ultimately, it demands a collective leap of faith from executives, developers, and even players to support unexplored experiences at a scale that can shift the market’s center of gravity.
The Role of Actors and Creatives in Advocating for Change
As a prominent voice actor, Ben Starr occupies a unique position in this ecosystem. His platform allows him to amplify the work of developers creating original content, like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. When creatives with industry influence publicly champion artistic risk and originality, it sends a powerful message to both publishers and the community. It validates the efforts of teams working on new IP and helps generate the player interest that can make these projects commercially viable. This advocacy is crucial in shifting perception, framing new IP not as a dangerous gamble but as an essential, exciting, and prestigious endeavor worthy of top talent and audience attention.
Ben Starr’s forecast for 2026 is more than a personal wish; it is a stark assessment of a creative crossroads. In an industry weathering severe economic headwinds, the instinct to cling to known quantities is understandable, yet as Starr argues, it is ultimately a restrictive path. The call for a new IP focus is a call for resilience—the belief that the way to secure the industry’s future is not by endlessly repackaging its past but by daring to build its next legacy. The success of original endeavors like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the voices that champion them, will determine whether the coming years mark a period of renewal or a deeper entrenchment in familiar ground.
