Marathon for GOTY? Ben Starr Points to a Surprisingly Good Reason

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Final Fantasy 16 lead Ben Starr has spoken, and apparently, Bungie’s Marathon has a hidden buff that could carry it straight to Game of the Year. And no, it’s not a new gameplay mechanic, a surprise PvPvE twist, or some long‑lost Destiny DNA. It’s something far more powerful — and far funnier.

It’s the Jennifer English Effect.

If you’ve been paying attention to the last few years of GOTY bloodbaths, you already know the pattern. Elden Ring. Baldur’s Gate 3. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Three wildly different fantasy RPGs, three cultural juggernauts, and one shared thread: Jennifer English in a major role. Latenna in Elden Ring, Shadowheart in BG3, Maelle in Clair Obscur — she’s quietly become the common denominator in every game that ends up steamrolling awards season.

Naturally, the internet has dubbed this the “Jennifer English Effect,” because of course it has. This is exactly the kind of superstition the modern fandom machine loves: part meme, part prophecy, part statistical anomaly that somehow feels real because the vibes line up too perfectly.

The Cast Reacts — and Ben Starr Immediately Points at Marathon

At Emerald City Comic Con 2026, Popverse sat down with some of the Clair Obscur cast — Jennifer English, Ben Starr, and Aliona Baranova — and the panel host brought up the Reddit‑born superstition.

“Are you familiar that Reddit has dubbed the Jennifer English Effect?” the host asked.

English, who clearly had no idea she’d become a lucky charm for prestige RPGs, blinked and said, “That’s really nice! What?”

Ben Starr, however, didn’t miss a beat. He looked straight ahead and declared:

“That means Marathon is gonna be Game of the Year.”

This was the same weekend Marathon debuted, and while it hasn’t detonated the internet the way Clair Obscur did, the Bungie faithful are already circling it like it’s the second coming of Trials of Osiris. If Jennifer English really is the secret GOTY multiplier, then Starr might be onto something — even if he was clearly joking.

Probably.

Maybe.

Jennifer English Effect – Yes, It’s Real

The funniest part of this whole thing is that the “effect” isn’t just a meme — it’s rooted in the way English’s characters tend to function. She keeps getting cast as the emotional spine of whatever world she inhabits. Shadowheart carried half of Baldur’s Gate 3’s heart on her back. Maelle is the soul of Clair Obscur. Even Latenna, a side character in Elden Ring, became a cult favorite.

It’s not magic. It’s that English keeps showing up in games that actually care about their characters — and those are the games that tend to sweep awards.

Marathon’s Wildcard Status Makes Starr’s Joke Even Better

Bungie needs a win after everything that’s gone down. Destiny fatigue, layoffs, and a studio identity crisis have put Marathon in a strange position — half comeback story, half experiment, half “please let this work” while crossing fingers and toes. The game’s reveal didn’t set the world on fire, but it did intrigue the exact kind of players who love a systems‑driven PvPvE rabbit hole.

If Marathon somehow rode the Jennifer English Effect to GOTY? That would be the most chaotic, Bungie‑coded plot twist imaginable.

GOTY Might Already Be Spoken For

Look, I’d love to live in a world where Mewgenics sweeps every award show that matters (meaning: the ones I personally care about). But here’s the catch: GTA 6 isn’t even eligible for most 2026 awards, thanks to its release window. What it will do is swallow the year culturally — the kind of monolith that dominates every conversation, every feed, every “best of” list that isn’t bound by eligibility rules.

So while GTA 6 won’t be in the GOTY race on paper, it’s still the gravitational force everything else will be orbiting.

Still, the Jennifer English Effect is real enough that people are watching Marathon with raised eyebrows. If Bungie sticks the landing — and if the industry’s awards calendar leaves a power vacuum — Ben Starr’s prophecy might not be as far‑fetched as it sounds.

Even if he was joking, it’s hard not to love the energy. After all, if you’re going to manifest something, you might as well manifest a GOTY win.