The people (and Geoff Keighley) have spoken: Clair Obscur is a certified zinger, and now the French head of state himself is cheering on Sandfall Interactive. The Final Fantasy-inspired RPG just guzzled an astonishing nine awards at The Game Awards, including Game of the Year, triggering a response from French President Emmanuel Macron himself and signaling that the nation is nearing a Civilization-style cultural victory.
Macron took to Instagram to express his admiration for Sandfall Interactive, saying (as Google Translate tells me): "Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has just been named Game of the Year in Los Angeles. A historic first for a French title! A source of great pride for Montpellier and for France. Congratulations to the teams at Sandfall Interactive. For future generations and those to come!"
It's the second time Macron has spoken about the game's success. He called Expedition 33 "a shining example of French audacity and creativity" in the weeks after its release earlier this year. While I have my doubts that Macron is in his office toying with different Pictos combinations and mastering his parry timings, it's significant that the game has gotten his attention at all: it demonstrates that videogames are works with real cultural heft, the sort that leaders on the global stage see fit to take seriously.
And Macron certainly has a history of taking games "seriously." In 2023, he linked videogames to violent protests and acts of vandalism by rioters, saying that "it sometimes feels like some of them are experiencing, on the streets, the videogames that have intoxicated them." I suppose it just took the right RPG to win him over.
Regardless, it's a nice feather in Sandfall's cap—the studio has rapidly become one of the most distinguished in the RPG space with just a single game out, and kudos like these only lend more prestige.
