Every December, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu conducts one of the industry’s most fascinating rituals. They poll hundreds of game developers, asking them to vote for their favorite games of the year. This isn’t some corporate PR exercise where studios push their own products. It’s a genuine peek behind the curtain at what creators actually play, admire, and learn from. For 2025, Famitsu surveyed 191 industry figures including legends like Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya, Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, and Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada. The results are as predictable in some ways as they are delightfully weird in others.
Clair Obscur Takes the Crown Again
Surprise absolutely no one: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won Famitsu’s Most Popular Game of 2025 poll. Sandfall Interactive’s stylish French-made JRPG has been on an awards tour that would make Oscar campaigners jealous, already snagging trophies at the Golden Joystick Awards and The Game Awards. Japanese developers joined the bandwagon, giving the Belle Époque-inspired RPG their highest honor.
What makes this particularly notable is that Clair Obscur isn’t Japanese. It’s a love letter to classic Final Fantasy and turn-based RPGs made by a small team in Montpellier, France. The game takes everything that made PlayStation 1-era JRPGs magical and thrusts it into 2025 with real-time combat elements, stunning art direction, and production values that rival Sony’s first-party blockbusters. The fact that Japanese creators embraced it so enthusiastically speaks to the universal appeal of well-executed game design regardless of geographic origin.
The Rest of the Top Five
Ghost of Yotei claimed second place, proving that Sucker Punch’s follow-up to Ghost of Tsushima resonated just as strongly with Japanese developers as it did globally. Third place went to Urban Myth Dissolution Center, a mystery adventure game from Japanese developer Hakababunko that clearly struck a chord with industry insiders even if mainstream audiences haven’t caught on yet. Nintendo dominated the fourth and fifth spots with Donkey Kong Bananza and Mario Kart World respectively, reminding everyone that the house of Mario still knows how to make games developers can’t stop playing.
The Quirky Individual Picks
While aggregate rankings tell one story, the individual developer choices reveal something far more interesting about gaming’s creative minds. Hideki Kamiya, the legendary director behind Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and Okami, completely ignored 2025 releases. His picks? Tetris, Refresh (a mobile puzzle game), and Super Mario Bros. Not the modern versions. The originals. Kamiya’s choices perfectly capture his design philosophy focused on timeless mechanics over trendy graphics.
Masanori Ichikawa, known for his work on Like a Dragon series at Sega, topped his list with Thank Goodness You’re Here, the absurdist comedy adventure set in northern England. On paper, a game about a tiny lad doing odd jobs in a Yorkshire town seems worlds apart from yakuza crime dramas. But as one Reddit commenter astutely noted, Thank Goodness You’re Here essentially plays like an endless series of Yakuza side quests, just with British humor instead of Japanese sensibilities.
Final Fantasy Directors Support Each Other
Naoki Hamaguchi, director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, showed class by putting Clair Obscur at the top of his list, followed by Ghost of Yotei and Donkey Kong Bananza. His colleague Yoshinori Kitase included the indie horror game Cairn in his picks, demonstrating that even creators of massive AAA RPGs keep tabs on tiny experimental projects that most people have never heard of.
Urban Myth Dissolution Center Captured Hearts
The biggest surprise wasn’t what topped the charts but what showed up repeatedly across multiple developers’ lists. Urban Myth Dissolution Center, a mystery adventure game about investigating supernatural phenomena and urban legends, appeared on an impressive number of ballots despite launching in February 2025 to relatively little fanfare outside Japan.
Players control Azami Fukurai, a renowned psychic medium working alongside Ayumu Meguriya at the Urban Myth Dissolution Center. The game tasks you with investigating cursed objects, urban legends, and supernatural cases through detective work and psychic abilities. It won the Women-Led Game award at The Indie Game Awards 2025, recognizing developer Hakababunko’s work. The game’s popularity among Japanese developers suggests it nailed something about Japanese supernatural horror and mystery storytelling that resonated deeply with creators even if it flew under the radar internationally.
Composers Have Eclectic Taste
Akira Yamaoka, the legendary Silent Hill composer, included Atomic Heart, Ghost of Yotei, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Outer Wilds, and GRIS in his picks. The selection spans atmospheric horror, epic action-adventure, existential sci-fi exploration, and artistic platforming, suggesting that composers appreciate emotional resonance and soundscape design across wildly different genres.
Western Games Made Strong Showings
One striking aspect of this year’s poll is how many non-Japanese titles appeared across developers’ lists. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, REPO MAN RUNNER, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle all received multiple mentions. This represents a significant shift from years past when Japanese developers primarily championed Japanese games or massive Western blockbusters like The Last of Us.
The democratization of game development and easier international distribution through Steam and console digital stores means Japanese developers now have access to indie and mid-tier Western games that would never have reached Japan during the physical media era. Titles like REPO, which gained traction through Japanese streamers and VTubers including Fubuki and Polka, show how influencer culture has changed game discovery even for industry professionals.
The Tradition Continues
Famitsu has been running this poll for 11 years, creating a fascinating historical record of what games resonated with Japanese developers year by year. Previous winners include Marvel’s Spider-Man, Death Stranding, Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake in 2024. The list reads like a who’s who of the past decade’s most influential and beloved games.
Past polls have also given us hilarious moments that have become gaming folklore. In 2024, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida famously listed only one game in his picks: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, the expansion for his own game. Meanwhile, Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi voted for Castlevania Dominus Collection, a compilation of DS Castlevania games he directed, as his number one choice. These moments of shameless self-promotion have become endearing traditions that fans look forward to each year.
FAQs
What game won Famitsu’s 2025 developer poll?
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won the poll, with 191 Japanese game developers and industry figures voting for it as their most popular game of the year. This marks another major win for the French-made JRPG that’s swept awards season.
Who participated in the Famitsu poll?
The poll included 191 Japanese developers and celebrities including Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry, Bayonetta), Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill composer), Koji Igarashi (Castlevania), Yoshinori Kitase (Final Fantasy), Naoki Hamaguchi (Final Fantasy VII Rebirth), Yoshi-P (Final Fantasy XIV), Katsuhiro Harada (Tekken), and many others.
What are the top 5 games according to Japanese developers?
The top five were: 1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, 2. Ghost of Yotei, 3. Urban Myth Dissolution Center, 4. Donkey Kong Bananza, and 5. Mario Kart World. The list shows a mix of Western and Japanese titles along with major releases and smaller indie games.
What did Hideki Kamiya vote for?
Hideki Kamiya ignored 2025 releases entirely and voted for Tetris, Refresh (a mobile puzzle game), and the original Super Mario Bros. His choices reflect his focus on timeless game design and fundamental mechanics over modern graphics and trends.
What is Urban Myth Dissolution Center?
Urban Myth Dissolution Center is a mystery adventure game developed by Hakababunko where players investigate supernatural phenomena and urban legends as psychic medium Azami Fukurai. Despite launching in February 2025 with little international attention, it appeared on many Japanese developers’ lists and won the Women-Led Game award at The Indie Game Awards 2025.
Did any developers vote for their own games?
While individual ballots aren’t always immediately public, past years have featured developers voting for their own projects. In 2024, Final Fantasy XIV director Yoshi-P famously voted only for his own game’s expansion, while Koji Igarashi put a Castlevania collection he directed at number one.
How long has Famitsu been running this poll?
Famitsu has conducted this annual poll for 11 years, asking Japanese game developers and industry figures to vote for their favorite games. Past winners include Elden Ring, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Death Stranding, and Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake.
Why did Western games do so well in the poll?
Easier international distribution through digital storefronts and increased exposure through streaming platforms have made Western indie and mid-tier games more accessible to Japanese developers. Titles like REPO gained traction through Japanese VTubers and streamers, changing how games reach audiences across borders.
Conclusion
Famitsu’s annual developer poll offers something rare in gaming journalism: unfiltered opinions from the people who actually make games about what they play when deadlines loosen and creative batteries need recharging. While Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s victory continues its awards dominance, the real story lives in the margins where Hideki Kamiya votes for Tetris, where Like a Dragon directors champion British comedy adventures, and where a mystery game about urban legends captures more hearts than blockbusters with hundred-million-dollar budgets. These choices reveal that developers value craft, creativity, and emotional resonance over production budgets and marketing campaigns. They appreciate games that take risks, whether that means a French studio attempting to out-JRPG Japan or a tiny indie team creating supernatural mystery adventures with zero budget for explosions. The poll also demonstrates gaming’s increasingly global nature, with Japanese developers championing Western indie games while Western studios create JRPGs that win Japanese industry polls. Geographic boundaries that once defined gaming have dissolved into a worldwide creative conversation where good ideas and solid execution matter more than where a studio happens to be located. For fans, these picks offer something more valuable than any critic’s list: a curated collection of games that earned respect from people who understand exactly how difficult making games actually is. When a legendary composer adds your game to his list, or when a Final Fantasy director stops to acknowledge your indie project, that means something deeper than sales figures or Metacritic scores. It means you created something that resonated with someone who knows the craft inside and out.