For 11 years, Famitsu magazine has been surveying representatives of the Japanese gaming industry, choosing the "Most Popular Game of the Year." Past winners include Marvel’s Spider-Man, Death Stranding, Elden Ring, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
This year, the survey covered 191 developers and well-known figures in the industry. The winner was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
Participants in the voting included, among others: Koji Igarashi (Castlevania), Hideki Kamiya (Bayonetta, Okami), Yoshinori Kitase (Final Fantasy), Naoki Hamaguchi (Final Fantasy), Yoshida "Yoshi-P" Naoki (Final Fantasy XIV), Katsuhiro Harada (Tekken), SWERY (Deadly Premonition).
The remaining places in the top 5 were taken by Ghost of Yotei, Urban Myth Dissolution Center, Donkey Kong Bananza, and Mario Kart World. Meanwhile, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach did not make it into the top five.