Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the biggest third-party launch on Xbox Game Pass this year, with game director Guillaume Broche stating the subscription service allowed the studio to reach a wider audience.
The stat, shared on Xbox Wire, is based on the number of unique users in the first 30 days of the game’s availability, meaning it made an immediate impact on the service.
“This year has been so far beyond what any of us could have imagined, and it’s down to how passionate and supportive our fans have been to make that a reality,” said Broche. “It’s really nerve-wracking to be a new studio releasing our first game, but the support of everyone has really made everything feel like a dream.”
Broche added the game’s inclusion on Game Pass let “a lot of people try our game when maybe they might not have before”.
He continued: “The turn-based RPG genre has a lot of fans but sometimes it might put people who prefer more real-time action games off, but Game Pass lowered that barrier of entry. They could just try it and see how it feels. So a lot of curious players could start the game, explore Lumière and the early game, and realise there’s a lot to enjoy here, even if they weren’t expecting it at first.”
Expedition 33 also released on PC and PlayStation 5 at the same time as its inclusion on Xbox Game Pass. In its first three days, the game sold a million copies. It then reached the fitting milestone of 3.3m copies in a month; most recently, the studio announced it had sold over 5m copies worldwide across all formats. Presumably, the number of overall players is even larger thanks to Game Pass.
Additionally, the game had stiff competition at launch with the surprise release of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, which also released on Game Pass. However, publisher Kepler’s senior portfolio director Matt Handrahan said “proximity to Oblivion didn’t seem to harm us at all”.
Xbox will be keen for positivity around Game Pass following its price hike earlier this year. And while Expedition 33 is a success for the subscription, without actual numbers it’s hard to ascertain how it compares with other platforms. Still, it’s further proof Game Pass remains a great tool for discovery.
An update is in the works for Expedition 33, which Broche teased to Eurogamer will have “a bit of whee, and a bit of whoo as well”. He also reflected on the game’s success, stating the team is “incredibly moved and grateful at how big [the game] got and how it emotionally resonated with people”.
