Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Becomes Xbox Game Pass’ Biggest Third-Party Launch of 2025

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is already shaping up to be one of the biggest success stories of the year. The award contenders keep piling up, and now Xbox has added another impressive milestone to the game's growing list of achievements. According to a new Xbox Wire report, the Sandfall Interactive RPG is officially the biggest third-party Game Pass launch of 2025.

Xbox says Clair Obscur had more unique players during its first 30 days on Game Pass than any other third-party game released on the service this year. Considering it launched on both Xbox and PC as a Day 1 Game Pass title back on April 24, that early surge of interest is a strong indicator of just how much the game has resonated with players.

A Partnership That Started Before Launch

Xbox has been backing Clair Obscur for a while. The game originally caught attention during the 2024 Developer Direct, where its painterly art style and timing-based combat turned a lot of heads. That early exposure clearly paid off. With Game Pass making it easy for subscribers to try new titles, positive reviews combined with curiosity helped drive a huge wave of players right out of the gate.

The impact works in both directions. Clair Obscur gets a massive audience thanks to the visibility of Game Pass, and Xbox gets one of its most talked-about hits of the year. Being one of the highest-reviewed releases of 2025 certainly helped, but Game Pass gave the RPG a level of reach that would have been far harder to achieve through traditional sales alone.

What Is the Biggest Xbox Game Pass Title Overall

It is worth noting that Xbox only confirmed Clair Obscur as the biggest third-party launch. That opens the door for a separate reveal about which Xbox first-party title claimed the overall top spot on Game Pass in 2025.

 There is no shortage of strong contenders. Avowed had a successful launch early in the year. The Outer Worlds 2 continued Obsidian's winning streak. Doom: The Dark Ages reinvented the Doomslayer in a medieval world and pulled in huge attention. But if we're talking raw player numbers, the safest bet is Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Even with reports of lower sales compared to past installments, Black Ops 7 dominated active player charts on both PlayStation and Xbox. A massive portion of its player base likely jumped in through Game Pass, making it a strong candidate for Xbox's biggest first-party launch of the year.

What Comes Next for Clair Obscur

With award season in full swing, Clair Obscur shows no signs of slowing down. It already swept several categories at the Golden Joystick Awards, and after this new achievement from Xbox, the game is entering The Game Awards with serious momentum. If the trend continues, Sandfall Interactive’s RPG could easily walk away with even more trophies before the year is over.