After Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s nine wins at The Game Awards last week, gamers everywhere are flocking to see what all the fuss is about.
A new report from Alinea Analytics highlights just how much of a boon the awards season has been for E33 (including Destructoid’s own GOTY honors), as it has now pushed the game past six million copies sold while also boosting overall engagement on Game Pass.
My only question is: what the heck took you all so long? Was it stubbornness? Discussion around the game has been glowing since it launched in April (my review of the game was quite glowing from day one), but now that it’s one of the most awarded games ever, you’re ready to take the plunge?!
I jest. I’m glad people are playing it now, and in droves. Alinea says over 200,000 copies of the game have been sold since TGA aired, with 76 percent of that coming from Steam and 21 percent on PS5. Game Pass, meanwhile, is “cannibalizing premium sales,” with 52,000 players trying it on the subscription service.
“The commercial impact of Expedition 33’s historic nine-award sweep at The Game Awards was immediate and dramatic, providing a pretty definitive case study in the power of critical acclaim,” Alinea’s report concluded. “However, many of the other nominees and winners saw very little boosts (if any) following the event, so TGA is not a guaranteed post-event sales engine for every winner and nominee.”
On Steam, E33 still sits at “Overwhelmingly Positive” reviews, with over 27,000 recent ones. That number will likely continue to rise, further cementing Sandfall Interactive’s debut as one of the biggest and best new IP in recent memory.
A new, free update to coincide with all of the awards has only helped the buzz. I haven’t had the time to try it just yet, but I have reinstalled the game on Steam, so I’m looking to hopefully give it a shot whenever I have time over the holidays.
