It's been a pretty amazing year in terms of the titles that have been added to Xbox Game Pass, with multiple Game of the Year candidates having arrived on the service at launch, but one in particular has dominated the attention.
That game is of course Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which has been crowned today as the biggest third-party Xbox Game Pass launch of 2025. In a post over on Xbox Wire, it's mentioned that this is based on "the number of unique users in the first 30 days of its availability". Here's a bit more about the accomplishment:
"Fresh from sweeping the Golden Joysticks and poised to do the same at The Game Awards, Sandfall Interactive’s phenomenal debut RPG is one of the most buzzed-about releases of the year, so it should surprise no one when we announce that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the biggest new third-party game launch on Xbox Game Pass of 2025. That’s based on the number of unique users in the first 30 days of its availability, which means a huge number of Xbox players joined Maelle, Gustave, Esquie, and the gang on their journey right from the beginning."
The rest of the post contains some quotes from Expedition 33 creative director Guillaume Broche as well as ID@Xbox Guy Richards, with the pair highlighting the success of the launch and why it was such a great fit for Game Pass.
Notably, Broche had the following to say about its impact as a Game Pass title:
"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.”
The next month looks set to be a very celebratory period for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, with the title having already snapped up Game of the Year at the Golden Joysticks 2025, and it could do the same at The Game Awards as well.
You'll see no complaining about that from us! We loved our time with Expedition 33 when we reviewed it here at Pure Xbox, giving it an "Excellent" 9/10 and highlighting it as a "sublime debut and one of the freshest RPGs in ages".