Director says Clair Obscur's commercial success was unexpected

Gamesradar reports the director of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 said the French RPG's commercial success was completely unexpected, even to many people at the studio.

The debut from French developer Sandfall Interactive has shifted over five million sales as of last year, won more game of the year awards than pretty much anything besides Elden Ring, and held Metacritic's top user-rated game crown (at least until Cory in the House DS overtakes it). Despite a handful of promising trailers and appearances at several Xbox showcases, the game’s rise to become a giant hit surprised even its creators.

However, the run has not been untroubled: two of the RPG's big game of the year awards were recently revoked over Sandfall's use of generative AI, which a studio representative hadn't been entirely clear about before submitting the game. After the fact, Broche admitted "we tried it, and we didn’t like it at all, it felt wrong" and said that with future projects "everything will be made by humans from us."

Key Topics

Tech, Clair Obscur, Sandfall Interactive, Generative Ai, Metacritic, Elden Ring