A few days after meeting several world leaders at the Vatican, the President of France decides to chime in on something the country can be proud of.
In a surprise to pretty much everyone, Emmanuel Macron posted about the recently released GOTY contender Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on Instagram. We don’t think he did it casually, either – he also tagged the official Instagram accounts for the game and its developer, Sandfall Interactive.
French language speaker Guillaume Huin, who apparently used to do marketing for McDonald’s France, came up on Twitter to translate Macron’s message himself. This was Huin’s translation:
“One million copies sold, and one of the best rated game in history : and yes, it is French! Congrats to Sandfall Interactive and the creators of Expedition 33. You make France’s creativity and audacity shine across the world.”
As you can see, Huin’s translation was faithful down to the punctuation. In the bigger picture, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is probably not as big a concern for Macron compared to prescient geopolitics, or ongoing local concerns about the French economy and energy supply.
But you would expect Macron to occasionally chime in on a successful French video game for the same reasons Korean politicians would talk about BTS; these breakthrough successes in pop culture help extend each countries’ soft power. To put that in plain English, a game fully made in France getting this much critical and commercial acclaim makes for good PR for the country, pastries and freedom fries aside.
Maybe gamers would take it for granted, since we are used to video games being huge multinational efforts. Most AAAs are made by video game companies based in the US, and Japan. While we have seen some emerging developers in places like Africa, and India, there are of course major studios in different parts of the world. Other major locations that are hotbeds for video game studios include the UK, Poland, Canada. China and Korea have had big local game industries for years, but most recently moved to join the global market.
There is of course, Ubisoft, the biggest video game company in France, and one of the biggest in Europe and the world. We don’t think the French have forgotten that Ubisoft exists, but what may make Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 unique is developer Sandfall Interactive is completely localized in Montpelier, and is also set in France, albeit highly fictionalized.
We’re glad that Sandfall received this recognition, and we’re hopeful French gamers are also feeling some pride from their achievements. You can watch a new video report from French new outlet France 24 below.
