Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the Biggest New 3rd-Party Game Launch on Xbox Game Pass of 2025 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 December 2025 / 2,759 Views
Xbox announced Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was the biggest new third-party game launch on Xbox Game Pass for 2025.
"This year has been so far beyond what any of us could have imagined, and it’s down to how passionate and supportive our fans have been to make that a reality," said Sandfall Interactive creative director Guillaume Broche. "It’s really nerve-wracking to be a new studio releasing our first game, but the support of everyone has really made everything feel like a dream."
ID@Xbox Director Guy Richards stated, "From the start, Sandfall’s ambition was clear and we really felt they wanted to create something truly special, something beyond expectations for the team. Once we played early builds, we experienced their gripping story, stunning visuals and the mix of JRPG mechanics with French cultural themes that felt fresh and distinctive. It’s the kind of experience we knew Xbox players would love to discover."
Broche added, "From being there to announce our game back in Summer 2024, to coming to the studio for the Developer_Direct video in January, Xbox helped us get the word out there and reach a lot of players."
He also stated that Xbox Game Pass helped reach them a much wider audience.
"Letting a lot of people try our game when maybe they might not have before," said Broche. "The turn-based RPG genre has a lot of fans but sometimes it might put people who prefer more real-time action games off, but Game Pass lowered that barrier of entry. They could just try it and see how it feels. So a lot of curious players could start the game, explore Lumière and the early game, and realize there’s a lot to enjoy here, even if they weren’t expecting it at first."
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, and Xbox Game Pass on April 24, 2025.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
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I wonder how many copies they lost in sales because of Game Pass.
They not wrong. If it wasn't for gamepass I wouldn't have tried it . Now I own the physical copy of the game.
Only why became Xbox so shy in communicating any specific numbers.
"Biggest", "most successful", "in 30 days", "in history", "x million players", etc.
Nonetheless, congrats to Sandfall!
We know why. They know we know why. But it doesn't matter, because people like us are out-numbered by the general public, probably ten to one. For the average person, positive spin is positive. That's all MS cares about.
peyton manning was the first to throw a touchdown with 2 minutes left in the 3rd qurater when behind 19 points when it was 14 degrees
xbox sounds like sport stats
