Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has sold 3.3 million copies worldwide in 33 days

I guarantee you they got an extra million in sales purely because it is a 50$ title
Maybe $50 should be the new/old industry standard rather than $70 or $80, especially for digital games that don't have fixed printing, shipping, or restocking costs to worry about. Unrealistic to hope for, but it sure would be nice.
 
Sometimes i wonder if it's better to have a price tag of 50 bucks and sell 3.3M or to increase the price of games and sell like 1M less...i really think these companies need to start looking at these titles and see what's working for them. Not every company is going to be able to sell 80 dollar titles like this.
 
If this is another mid experience over praised when I get to it I'm gonna be pissed.
I'm nearing the very end, so I'll hold my final review a bit longer. Overpraised a bit, definitely. I am eager to get into that if I still feel that way. But it's still well worth playing, a phenomenally fun and artistic game at a good price, and I wouldn't go below a 9/10 at worst. And I can be very critical of turn based RPGs.

There's a few things I could complain about it, but it's very good and lots of it is very original and smartly designed.
 
Just bought mine, had to import my physical from Japan, and can't wait for it to arrive.
I've been listening the OST on YouTube in anticipation and it's amazing.
 
We got the news for 500k, for 1 million, for 2 million, now for 3.3 million

Making a thread each time to have the same type of response, eh.

I know I won't be here for the thread about 3.76 million units sold
Ok, so you DID miss it.

The entire game revolves around the number 33.
 
Just playing through NG+. Almost landed a single hit with 2M damage. I'll get it very soon.

Unless something very special happens later in the year (which I don't see happening, even with DS2) this is my GOTY. Such a wonderful game.
 
FF16 team will need to dig a crater and hide themselves there. Gamepass vs no gamepass….

Clair is going to over take it soon. Word of mouth is strong, it's another Nier in the making… if it somehow wins GOTY…
 
My top 3 would be this, Elden Ring and KCD2.

Helldivers 2 is also up there, in terms of hours played it's by far and away my most played game this gen and every minute has been a blast.

We've had some bangers in recent years, that's for sure.
Have you played Baldur's Gate 3? If not, you should play it, even if turn based crpgs are not your type. It's crazy what they realized regarding player freedom and agency.
 
Sometimes i wonder if it's better to have a price tag of 50 bucks and sell 3.3M or to increase the price of games and sell like 1M less...i really think these companies need to start looking at these titles and see what's working for them. Not every company is going to be able to sell 80 dollar titles like this.
This game benefits from 3 major things cost wise.
  1. Way lower cost centre in Montpellier with a metro area population less than 850k
  2. Very junior employees
  3. Fewer devs overall
These things are often just not in the grasp of larger publishers, and doesn't hold forever as a studio matures.
 
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FF16 team will need to dig a crater and hide themselves there. Gamepass vs no gamepass….

Clair is going to over take it soon. Word of mouth is strong, it's another Nier in the making… if it somehow wins GOTY…

I think Square Enix in general. They need to take a hard look in the mirror after the underwhelming performance of Rebirth and XVI, and the overperformance of Clair Obscur.
 
Lol Nice!
I bet they had the idea for this tweet for a while, but before launch they didn't know how long it would take to get there, if at all.
In the end it took them only a bit over a month!.

Really well deserved, and I hope it continues selling over time.
Best JRPG I've played and one of the best games this gen IMO.
 
Maybe $50 should be the new/old industry standard rather than $70 or $80, especially for digital games that don't have fixed printing, shipping, or restocking costs to worry about. Unrealistic to hope for, but it sure would be nice.
It would be nice that I could get the latest "yes this is truly the game we were thinking of"-update from Atlus for like a 10€ instead of buying the game again. But I don't see that happening. Which is why I'm committed to not buying Atlus games at launch.

(oh who am I kidding, I'd totally be preordering P6)
 
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3.3m in just a month of release with the game still in the top 10 selling list on Steam, it just proves the game has resonated hugely with a previously very underestimated player base. Reminds me of how hardcore games were considered dead before Dark Souls. Exp 33 combines high end production values, insane art direction with a modern spin of traditional turn based gameplay. It has complete confidence in its own confines and never seeks to reach beyond its grasp. This is humiliating to big publishers who spend way, way more to give way, way less. For Square Enix it hopefully serves as a sharp reminder that quality matters more than market tests and advicing statistical consultants.
 
You really didn't understand the importance of the 3.3M? Really?
Expedition 33, selling 3.3M in 33 days?
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Have you played Baldur's Gate 3? If not, you should play it, even if turn based crpgs are not your type. It's crazy what they realized regarding player freedom and agency.

I have but it doesn't quite squeeze in to my top 3.

I actually preferred Divinity OS2 to it.
 
Beyond the obvious appeal of being less expensive, going $10 below 'standard' (for a game which very obviously was high enough quality to justify standard pricing) goes a very long way in terms of creating goodwill and making people want it to succeed. I'm pretty confident the decision made them more money than they otherwise would have.
 
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(seriously though, I much preferred BG3, but opinions and all that, which is something that seems to be lost often here)

Divinity OS2 has a bit of intangible magic for me personally since I played through it with my wife in co-op while we were stuck indoors during lockdown.
 
3.3m in just a month of release with the game still in the top 10 selling list on Steam, it just proves the game has resonated hugely with a previously very underestimated player base. Reminds me of how hardcore games were considered dead before Dark Souls. Exp 33 combines high end production values, insane art direction with a modern spin of traditional turn based gameplay. It has complete confidence in its own confines and never seeks to reach beyond its grasp. This is humiliating to big publishers who spend way, way more to give way, way less. For Square Enix it hopefully serves as a sharp reminder that quality matters more than market tests and advicing statistical consultants.
I had the exact same thought. I truly hope this is a "Dark Souls" moment for the industry. This may be reaching, but I hope.
 
I had the exact same thought. I truly hope this is a "Dark Souls" moment for the industry. This may be reaching, but I hope.
I personally think it will be. This game's success will be difficult for anyone (or any company) making games to ignore.
 
Divinity OS2 has a bit of intangible magic for me personally since I played through it with my wife in co-op while we were stuck indoors during lockdown.
I can get behind that. Especially, as with BG3, you'd have to go through the conversation of "why did you want to bone Shadowheart?"
 
Yeah and not just the writing/characters. Also the fact that there's no hand holding, environmental storytelling, stuff out there for you to explore and find on your own, no MMO side quest filler, no inventory management, etc

The game feels like a breath of fresh air in so many ways. I can't stop thinking about it.
Im right there with you. Absolutely.

I haven't played a game this generation that has me thinking about it during the day when not playing it.

Playing something that is not some tween b.s. is just awesome.
 
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As it should. And other developers as well. This game (I hope) is a "dark souls" moment in the industry showing that there is a real market for mature and thoughtful games. One can only hope.

(...)
I'd hope so, but I have a feeling they'll try to explain it away with some fallacy. My impression is the people in these managerial positions steadfast believe their approach is infallible. They'll try to defend the artificial, data- and marketing focused-driven development as the most optimal and efficient way to make creative decisions and manage game deveopment.

The reality is, they've sucked out all the fun out of making games by creating a bureaucratic nightmare at these AAA studios/publishers where they possess most of the leverage. Individualism, actual talent and personal ideas can't flourish in the environment that these AAA monoliths have created.
 
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I had the exact same thought. I truly hope this is a "Dark Souls" moment for the industry. This may be reaching, but I hope.

I hope not, this game is so good that it doesn't need a myriad of copycats who don't really get what makes it special (great writing, in this case).
 
Yeah okay great, let's not make a thread for each sale now, 3+ million is already a good spot to celebrate, 3.3 million a bit less

Erm, you know that's a play on the title of the game, right?

This game buried the sea of shit of lies that the industry has fed us for years

Expedition 33 was definitely the first quality AA game we've ever had. Get a grip.
 
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I dont get this game's popularity. I tried it out and just the first mini-boss was already annoying with the one-shot mechanic. Then again im not much for turn base games.
 
It will probably catch up and exceed FFXVI at some point soon. Would be interesting to hear the chatter happening over this game at the higher ups offices at SE right now.
They're probably wondering how the game can even sell half a million copies without a title like "Clarum Obscurum: Expeditio XXXIII 1/3 Ultimate Intergrade Prologue Σ".
 
I'd hope so, but I have a feeling they'll try to explain it away with some fallacy. My impression is the people in these managerial positions steadfast believe their approach is infallible. They'll try to defend the artificial, data- and marketing focused-driven development as the most optimal and efficient way to make creative decisions and manage game deveopment.

The reality is, they've sucked out all the fun out of making games by creating a bureaucratic nightmare at these AAA studios/publishers where they possess most of the leverage. Individualism, actual talent and personal ideas can't flourish in the environment that these AAA monoliths have created.
Yes. They will try and explain it away, but money talks. They can't keep churning out failure after failure chasing that fortnight money and the next "monitization" thing
 
If this is another mid experience over praised when I get to it I'm gonna be pissed.
In my opinion yes but the game just did not vibe with me at all and I love JRPGs.

Glad to see smaller developers find success though. It's a great success for their size. All the jabs at Square Enix are weird though; FF7 Remakes and FF16 didn't sell "poorly" because they're bad games. They sold poorly because they were morons and signed a deal with Sony.
 
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Square Enix management when they realize the gamers who played Final Fantasy VII in 1997 might want to play something made for grown ups in 2025.
 
Less bloat, turn based, smaller studio, lower affordable $50 game and tons of creativity and passion equals sales.. Who would of thought.
 
It does show that Gamepass does not intrinsically hurt a game by just being on the service. Its almost as if games made for Gamepass don't sell well.
 
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Square Enix management when they realize the gamers who played Final Fantasy VII in 1997 might want to play something made for grown ups in 2025.
Thats the problem of JRPG for me, most Neogaf grew up playing JRPG at teen age, nowadays we are a bunch of bald old farts and most JRPG still has the same old teenager protag and childish plot and thats why i abandoned the genre.
 
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