The Game Awards Gave Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 A Massive Boost

"Sandfall Interactive's Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is having a remarkable second run this month after winning Game of the Year at The Game Awards. It was already one of the top hits of the year, but that added exposure has pushed Expedition 33 even higher than before. According to Alinea Analytics, sales of Expedition 33 jumped 21% on PlayStation 5 and 76% on Steam. The bump was a considerably smaller 3% on Xbox, likely because Expedition 33 is on Game Pass. Regardless, the combined sales across PC and consoles post-The Game Awards is estimated to be over 200,000 additional copies."

"Sandfall deftly timed new DLC for Expedition 33 to drop almost as soon as it won its final award at The Game Awards. That likely helped fuel the rush of new and returning players that pushed it to 56,993 concurrent players over the weekend, via SteamDB. That's the game's highest count since June."

"Circana senior director Mat Piscatella also noted on Bluesky that "the percent of US active PS, XBX and US Steam players engaging with the game more than tripled by Dec 13th when compared to Dec 10th. US Steam showed the largest lift." For December 13th, Circana notes that daily active users reached 13th on Steam, 30th on PlayStation, and 33rd on Xbox, all in the US. For added context, Piscatella told GameSpot that, "In this example, engagement means anyone that started the game. If someone just looked at the menu or played for 24 hours straight it counts. Active player means the percentage of all people who played any game that day on PS, XBX or Steam.""

Expedition 33 experienced a major resurgence after winning Game of the Year, with Alinea Analytics reporting sales increases of 21% on PlayStation 5 and 76% on Steam, and an estimated 200,000 additional copies across PC and consoles. Xbox sales rose only 3%, likely due to Game Pass availability. A new DLC release coincided with the award win and appears to have driven a spike to 56,993 concurrent Steam players, the highest since June. Circana reported US engagement more than tripled between Dec 10 and Dec 13, with daily active user rankings of 13th on Steam, 30th on PlayStation, and 33rd on Xbox. Expedition 33 won nine of 13 nominated categories at The Game Awards, earned congratulations from French President Emmanuel Macron, and was named GameSpot's Game of the Year for 2025.

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