By my count, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has now won over 30 different awards across 10 different award shows, as well as our own Game of the Year award and a pile of other nominations. It’s settled happily at a 92 critic score on Metacritic and a 9.5 user score.
It’s a really, really good game. But apparently its developers truly had no idea how good their game was before it was released, as demonstrated by a number of silly bets they made on what the game’s metascore would be, all of which they lost. As a result, a number of Expedition 33 devs are on the hook now for dying their hair, doing stand-up comedy, getting tattoos, and more.
This comes from our recent interview with Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, a writer on Expedition 33. According to her, the game’s commercial and critical success were totally unexpected. The team didn’t think it was a bad game, to be clear, but they weren’t expecting as much as they got. “There are internal bets on the team of what we thought the Metacritic score would be, and then if it is over that, they have to do some dares or do some things, like get a tattoo, dye their hair, or different things,” she said.
I needed to know more. I asked if anyone had gotten a tattoo, and she says she wasn’t sure if they had done it yet, but a few people were supposed to.
“There’s a whole list of things that people have to do if the Metacritic score is above a certain number,” she continued. “Some people have already… I think one person had to eat a chicken, a roast chicken in one sitting within a certain amount of time while another person beatboxes. There’s a lot of random stuff. One person had to dye his hair. He did do that.” She then clarified he dyed it pink, and added that another person has to do stand-up comedy.
I think somebody has to do stand-up comedy.
“None of us really expected this, so everybody lost. Everybody lost their bet.”
But despite everyone technically “losing”, it’s pretty evident that the team really “won” in the success of Expedition 33. And Svedberg-Yen says they, of course, recognize that:
“I think obviously we’re all very, very appreciative of the massive response from the fans and the players. It’s just incredible. I think one of the nice things is it does mean that the studio’s future is financially secure, which is a really nice thing. In the midst of what’s going on in the broader industry, that is very much a blessing and something we don’t take for granted. So I think it’s going to be just keep our eyes on the prize, try not to get distracted, stay focused on the art and the joy and the game that we want to make.”
We spoke to Svedberg-Yen on so many other topics, including the wild, winding road she took to becoming a writer on Expedition 33, the emotional inspiration for each of the main characters, and if there will ever be a “canon” ending for the game. You can read our full interview with her right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
