Summary
There are a lot of games onSteam—over 107,000 in fact—so it’s becoming increasingly challenging for them to find the spotlight on the Valve-owned platform. Many of those that do reach the masses aren’t those that are developed by a team of 33 people, much likeClair Obscur: Expedition 33was. Sure, there are some breakout hits, like this year’sSchedule 1, but you’ll often find smaller developers bemoaning how hard it is.
Despite the hype it has received, it would have been easy for Clair Obscur to become another casualty of Steam’s brutal algorithms, especially given the fact that it launched during the same week as the surprise-not-actually-a-surpriseThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remaster. But, in fact, it’s done quite the opposite, breaking through the 100,000 concurrent player mark on the platform, something which many other RPG behemoths have never managed to achieve.
On Sunday, April 27, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was being played by 121,422 players at the same time, according toSteamDB. This is the 137th-highest peak ever achieved on Steam.
Over Steam’s almost 20-year existence, only 177 other games have managed to achieve this feat. This means Clair Obscur is part of a very exclusive club featuring only 0.0016 percent of the games on the platform. Given that it’s a brand-new IP that simultaneously launched onXbox Game Pass, and was developed by such a small team, it’s a minor miracle.
The scale of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s accomplishment can probably best be illustrated by the fact that not a single JRPG has broken the 100,000 mark on Steam.
Final Fantasy, with its storied history, has only ever come close whenXIV Onlinehit 95,150 three years ago, and its best single-player offering,Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, managed 40,564.
The highestPersonahas ever reached is 45,002 withPersona 3 Reload, andDragon Questis similar, withDragon Quest 3: HD-2DRemake hitting 45,357 last year.Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengancemanaged just shy of 22,000 players, andTales of Ariseperhaps gave the best showing, with an all-time peak of 60,274.
You have to give it to the Sandfall Interactive for mixing up the formula; Clair Obscur has already earned its position asan all-time great.
