Sandfall Interactive’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has made waves since launch, earning extensive critical acclaim and selling over one million copies in three days. It also saw over 145,000 peak concurrent players on Steam recently, beating out titles like Metaphor: ReFantazio.
According to Alinea Analytics (via GamesIndustry), its sales are also stronger, with over 785,000 copies reportedly sold on the platform in its launch week. This is more than double the sales of Metaphor: ReFantazio and even Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, though the latter arrived for PC later.
Alinea’s head of market analyst, Rhys Elliott, said Expedition 33 sold over 350,000 copies on PS5 and had over 1.5 million wishlists on Steam. Regarding its success, Elliott noted the quality and $50 price as key factors.
“The game is fantastic. It combines stunning visuals with a rewarding turn-based combat system that melds the Superstar Saga timed JRPG combat with some Sekiro-style parries. It also has an affecting story and believable writing – as well as lovable protagonists and love-to-hateable antagonists with an all-star voiceover cast.
“The low price point likely also factored in, as our Steam data shows that many players bite the bullet when a AAA game goes on sale and drops below $50.”
However, he also feels that the realistic visuals and emphasis on turn-based combat played a pivotal role. “There was also an opening for a modern, realistic-looking JRPG. Square Enix was reticent to do so with the Final Fantasy series. Now, it’s probably kicking itself.
“Expedition 33 has given RPG fans something they always wanted. If you asked Final Fantasy fans from the late ’90s/early ’00s what the ideal version of a JRPG should look like, it’d be something like this,” said Elliott.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC alongside Game Pass. You can check out our review here – we scored it a nine out of ten. Though it’s not confirmed, there’s seemingly a “good chance” of DLC, according to lead writer Jennifer Svedberg-Yen.
