Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the debut title from Sandfall Interactive, has hit an incredible milestone only a few days after its launch. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG that incorporates active battle mechanics, sort of like Paper Mario. But instead of simple button timings, you will need to dodge and parry in every encounter, with the system being more of a requirement than a bonus.
The RPG was revealed just last year, and has been a highly anticipated title, thanks to incredible art-style and strong trailers. The game lived up to those trailers, receiving support from critics and fans since its launch, for its homages toclassic JRPGs and incredible combat. Here’s how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has performed since its launch.
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold a million copies since launch
That doesn’t include people playing via Game Pass.
Sandfall Interactive announced on X that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold over a million copies in just three days. That’s across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam. It enjoyed another milestone on Steam as well, having over 100,000 concurrent players on the platform over the weekend, hitting a peak of 121,422 (via SteamDB.) That’s an incredible milestone for any game, but considering some of the circumstances around Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, that number is more impressive than it sounds.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an AA game made with a core development team of 30 people–although that number doesn’t account for contract workers and outside help, as pointed out by Rock Paper Shotgun. The game is also a budget title, coming in at only $50 instead of the traditional $70.
If that wasn’t enough, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has two other fairly big obstacles to selling well at launch. The first is that the game launched on
Xbox Game Pass
for both console and PC, and while that certainly can help get more people to try out the game and potentially give it more exposure, it does come at the cost of some sales.
The second hurdle is one that the team at Sandfall Interactive wasn’t even aware of until the day before launch, which was Bethesda and Microsoft shadow dropping
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
just the day before, also on Game Pass.
This was taken in stride by the marketing team, with publisher Kepler Interactive posting on Bluesky that the situation was “like barbenheimer,” referring to when Oppenhiemer and Barbie were released in theaters at the same time.
Ultimately, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 seems like the perfect kind of success story in video games. A smaller development team making a more focused video game with an incredible art-style and a focused vision, which resulted in a surprising hit that has received tons of praise from both critics and fans. Now, the game is seeing great sales and success, making it a breakout hit of 2025.
As studios continue to get hit with layoffs and games are declared flops before even releasing, a smaller development team having this level of success with its debut title is a win for the industry as a whole. It could be awhile until Sandfall Interactive shares the next sales milestone for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but it seems likely that it will only continue to see success.
Source: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on X
