r/JRPG • u/Marinebiologist_0 • Apr 27 '25

News Clair Obscur has achieved the highest concurrent player rate ever for a JRPG on Steam.

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Incredible numbers, this doesn't even include the Xbox Gamepass player count. The last time I remember a JRPG getting this level of attention was Persona 5 and NieR Automata in 2017. It'll be interesting to see how massive Persona 6 will be, if it launches day 1 on all major platforms.

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344

u/CapCapital Apr 27 '25

OP fixing to get blasted for calling this game a JRPG

218

u/No_Sympathy_3970 Apr 27 '25

JRPG is really just a poorly named genre, not all RPGs from Japan are JRPGs and a non Japanese game can be a JRPG

53

u/tallwhiteninja Apr 27 '25

Japanese-style Role Playing Game. Fixed it.

47

u/Jubez187 Apr 27 '25

That’s essentially what JRPG means lol. It’s just that for many years Japanese style RPG was only made in Japan.

14

u/tallwhiteninja Apr 27 '25

There are too many obnoxious "purists" who disagree to not call it out, lol.

5

u/shadowwingnut Apr 27 '25

Massive problem with the genre in general... Looks at Final Fantasy turn based purists who argue in bad faith all the time.

0

u/Dude_McGuy0 Apr 27 '25 edited Apr 27 '25

There are three factions as I see it:

  1. To be a JRPG, the game only needs to be made by a mostly Japanese development team. (So Persona counts, Elden Ring counts, Expedition 33 doesn't count).
  2. The game needs to be both made by a Japanese development team AND have a Japanese or Japanese inspired art style to be considered a JRPG. (Persona counts, Elden ring doesn't count, Expedition 33 doesn't count,).
  3. If the game is designed using the same gameplay conventions as popular JRPGs of the SNES/PS1 era (Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Suikoden, etc.) then it's considered a JRPG regardless of the art style or developer. (Persona counts, Elden ring doesn't count, Expedition 33 counts).

7

u/daemin Apr 27 '25

As someone who grew up when the NES was brand new and the term "JRPG" was coined, we always used the term as case #3.

1

u/ThrowawayBlank2023 May 01 '25

Even in the scarce academic research done on game culture that discusses this topic I'm pretty sure #3 is always used. And it makes sense, since it's, well... the only use case that actually respects the timeline and culture surrounding the game genre.

34

u/acart005 Apr 27 '25

Its a more accurate descriptor.  I haven't played Clair but lets use... Chained Echoes.  Made by a dude in Germany.  Inspired by Xenogears and Chrono Trigger and very much what I'd think of as a JRPG.  Not made in Japan.

6

u/A-Centrifugal-Force Apr 27 '25

Child of Light is another one. Made by Ubisoft in the West. Feels much more like a JRPG than a Western RPG

1

u/niconois May 01 '25

because "japanese" doesn't mean "made by japanese people"

the adjective "japanese" is applied on the game, not on the creator of the game

like an american chef can make italian cuisine, it will still be italian cuisine, it's the cuisine that is italian, not the american chef