Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr believes Marathon could win Game of the Year – and it’s all due to its inclusion of co-star Jennifer English in the Bungie shooter’s all-star voice cast.
GamesRadar reports on a panel with the pair at the Emerald City Comic Con 2026, where it’s noted that Reddit has coined a phenomenon known as the ‘Jennifer English Effect’.
To cut a long story short, English starred as Latenna the Albinauric in Elden Ring, Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3, and, of course, Maelle in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – three titles which all won Game of the Year recently.
She wasn’t in Astro Bot so that does break the run somewhat, but it’s pretty consistent all the same.
English, seemingly unaware of her influence, remarked, “That’s really nice!”
But Starr took it one step further and hurriedly chimed in: “That means Marathon is gonna be Game of the Year!”
To be fair, the Bungie shooter has been attracting some extremely positive review scores, and while it doesn’t look like it’s sold as well as parent company Sony may have expected, it does appear to have a passionate fan base.
Whether it’ll have the legs to win Game of the Year, though – we doubt it.
Of course, English may have other opportunities: she’s set to star as the lead character Gwendolyn in upcoming PS5 action game Tides of Annihilation, and while it doesn’t have a release date just yet, there’s a slim chance it may make it out this year.