Matt Handrahan, the director of the venerable Kepler Interactive, a distributor of games from the United Kingdom, has a storied track record with games like Sifu, Scorn, and most recently, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which sold over 1 million copies within a few days. In an interview with The Game Business, he revealed the behind-the-scenes of the game’s marketing.
The game leveraged Xbox’s promotional support at major Xbox events like the Summer Showcase, alongside blockbuster games like Gears of War and Fable, increasing its visibility significantly. Without Xbox’s marketing assistance, launching on Game Pass, Kepler’s team would have had a tougher time relying solely on Steam’s storefront.
Kepler views Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as a high-quality AA game, yet it was promoted alongside Microsoft’s AAA titles. However, a crisis arose when Bethesda Studios, under Microsoft, unveiled Oblivion Remastered mere days after its release, available on Game Pass as well. Initially jittery, the team remained confident in Clair Obscur’s unique selling point as a JRPG. Interestingly, Oblivion’s launch had minimal impact on Clair Obscur’s sales.
Initially unsure of Clair Obscur, Kepler’s distribution team was enlightened by the potential after seeing early versions of the game. They waited for Sandfall’s development to polish the game to a high standard. Upon their second encounter, Kepler was enthusiastic and promptly signed a contract with Sandfall.
Player statistics for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, segmented by platform, as per game market research company Ampere:
Xbox: 45% (largely due to its availability on Game Pass)
PlayStation: 30% (JRPGs typically perform well on PlayStation)
Steam: 25%
Ampere also provided data for players of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, a similar RPG game released around the same time and available on Game Pass:
Xbox: 47% (due to its previous release on Xbox 360 and Game Pass availability)
Steam: 34% (popular on PC due to its Western RPG origins)
PlayStation: 17%
Ampere’s data indicates an overlap of around 35% between players of Clair Obscur and Oblivion, with the majority on the Xbox platform where both games are played, with 55% attributed to Game Pass users.
TLDR: Matt Handrahan of Kepler Interactive discusses the successful marketing strategies for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, leveraging Xbox’s promotional support and Game Pass availability, and the unique selling point of the game as a JRPG despite competing with Bethesda’s Oblivion Remastered. Ampere’s player statistics reveal platform preferences and player overlap between Clair Obscur and Oblivion.
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