"Oblivion didn't seem to harm us at all": Clair Obscur Expedition 33 found strength in Game Pass, says publisher 

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 and Oblivion Remastered both proved to be the highlight of April 2025. The titles saw massive hype and sold more than a million copies each within the first few days of their release. Clair Obscur Expedition 33 performed exceptionally well, considering it was the first title from Sandfall Interactive, providing strong competition to Elder Scroll's Oblivion Remastered.

There can be numerous factors responsible for this, including Expedition 33's inclusion in the Xbox Game Pass roster on launch day itself. During a conversation with The Game Business, publisher Kepler Interactive's senior portfolio manager Matt Handrahan stated that:

"Actually, proximity to Oblivion didn't seem to harm us at all. In many ways, I think it just drew attention to quality RPGs that week and everybody was thinking and talking about the genre.”

He also pointed out that despite Oblivion Remastered also being available on Xbox Game Pass at launch, there was still one more thing that seperated them from Oblivion.

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Clair Obscur Expedition 33 has an identity of its own according to Kepler Interactive's senior portfolio manager

Both Oblivion Remastered and Clair Obscur Expedition 33 were available on Xbox Game Pass at launch (Image via Kepler Interactive)

Matt Handrahan rightly pointed out that every RPG has a different style, appeal, and identity. Fans of JRPGs will never prefer playing a Western RPG, and vice versa. And till the point Oblivion Remastered shadow dropped, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 had managed to build an identity of its own, thanks to all the support from Microsoft.

Matt stated:

“We always knew that Expedition 33 had a very specific identity...When I was in the press, I saw the Western-style RPG and the Japanese-style RPG as having quite different appeals and audiences. I knew plenty of people that would play an Elder Scrolls game that wouldn't necessarily play Final Fantasy and vice versa."

Apart from Xbox Game Pass, another factor that helped Clair was the price point, which was very low compared to most modern video games. Expedition 33 already had a little hype around it before it was released. Talking along these lines, Matt said:

“Also, by the time that we rolled around, we had momentum of our own and we felt pretty confident that we could stand beside it. I think there were other aspects, like the price point we were at and the inclusion in Game Pass… so we knew we would have a lot of interest around the game. We were confident in that. And it went as well as it possibly could have done in our eyes."

Clair Obscur Expedition 33 sold over one million copies in its first three days. This is despite the fact that the game is available for free on Xbox Game Pass. If you haven't tried it out yet, you can grab a copy from the PlayStation Store, Steam, or Xbox Game Store for $49.99

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