CASE STUDY

Inside the Lurkit key campaign that helped Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 conquer the world

RESULTS

5.8m hours watched on Twitch from Lurkit creators

And 22.6m views on YouTube

49.5m short-form video views via TikTok & YouTube Shorts

Over 3,000 creators activated through Lurkit

3.3m copies sold in the 33 days after launch

500k copies sold in the first 24 hours

Company overview

Founded in 2021, Kepler Interactive is a global publisher with a unique proposition. The company is co-owned by seven indie dev studios, with each studio contributing to the publisher’s overall strategy. Critically, the teams retain their creative independence and are empowered to make games as they see fit.

Game overview

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the work of Sandfall Interactive, a France-based studio formed in 2020. Interest in Sandfall’s debut game began in June 2024, when it emerged as the surprise standout success in that year’s Xbox Games Showcase. The gorgeous artwork and slick combat gave the impression of a game with a much larger budget. Expedition 33 sold half a million copies in 24 hours after launch and is widely tipped as a GOTY contender.

Products used

Creator Program, Managed Service, Key Campaign

The Challenge:

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 burst onto the scene during 2024’s Xbox Game Showcase. Sandfall Interactive’s debut game stunned the watching world with its gorgeous visuals and fresh take on turn-based JRPG combat. 

The response to the announcement was a boon for the RPG and its publisher, Kepler Interactive. And excitement continued to build throughout the year as new reveals and gameplay trailers emerged.

In January, the game’s release date was made public, adding to player anticipation. To transform this crescendo of enthusiasm into sales, the Kepler team planned to make organic creator marketing core to their launch plan.

There was one problem.

With limited internal capacity, Kepler needed a way to drive awareness at scale without tying up its own resources. This meant a campaign that would run smoothly, with minimal input from their side.

Most importantly, they needed to reach creators worldwide and at every level, not just big names, with tools that could handle wide distribution automatically. 

Previous services hadn’t worked out. They were either too hands-on, too difficult to use or lacked the required reach.

And so, the Kepler crew turned to Lurkit.

The Solution:

Kepler’s campaign for Expedition 33 leaned almost entirely on organic reach. Instead of running extensive paid sponsorships, Kepler worked with Lurkit across three pillars:

  • An organic Key Campaign open to any creator who met a base set of viewership and engagement metrics. Our platform handled the application, qualification and distribution process, removing the bottlenecks.
  • The Creator Program, which gave speedy, direct access to vetted content creators already working with the platform.
  • A Managed Service layer, with the Lurkit team fully embedded to help handle logistics, provide creator support and ensure execution ran smoothly from start to finish.
Click the image to check out the Expedition 33 Creator Program

Crucially, Kepler’s team didn’t have to babysit any of it. From campaign setup to comms to troubleshooting, our team took care of the heavy lifting.

Ahead of launch, Lurkit facilitated an early preview campaign in March. This allowed creators to showcase Expedition 33 to their communities, creating a surge of excitement before the big day of release.

Because the key campaign had no artificial caps or manual approvals slowing things down, creators were able to opt in and start generating content instantly.

This early visibility paid off, and anticipation for Sandfall’s game was off the charts by the time launch rolled around. With the preview window wrapped and audiences primed and ready to go, attention turned to launch day on 24 April.

The Results

The results for both Expedition 33’s launch and the Lurkit-powered creator campaigns have been nothing short of spectacular. 

Following its release, Sandfall’s game sold half a million copies in its first 24 hours.

By day three, that figure had doubled. The RPG reached well over three million units within a month of being on sale.  

Critical response has matched the impressive sales. A 93 Metacritic rating means Expedition 33 is currently the highest-rated new game of 2025. It’s also on course to clean up at the end-of-year awards.

Expedition 33 ranked number one in Metacritic's half year chart

Lurkit delivers

That’s the game’s performance. But how did we do? Take a look. During the preview phase alone, 517 Lurkit creators generated:

230,000 hours watched on Twitch
1.6 million views on YouTube
2.5 million short-form views on TikTok and Shorts

Big numbers, driven by big love for the game. Creators fell for Expedition 33’s looks and the slickness of its combat. The enthusiasm was infectious and transmitted to their audiences. 

But the party was just getting started.

Out to launch

From the day of release on April 24 and throughout most of May, more than 3,000 Lurkit-activated creators delivered some astonishing numbers:

5.6 million hours watched on Twitch
21 million views on YouTube
47 million views on TikTok and YouTube Shorts

98% of the campaign’s results came organically. No big contracts. This was genuine creator excitement, made possible by the ease of use of our tech and the commitment of our team.

The quality of Sandfall’s RPG led to high-profile creators taking a trip to Lumière, discovering its lore and bringing their communities with them.

Meanwhile, mid-sized and smaller creators ensured that Expedition 33 was visible in every corner of the internet. The result was total saturation, exactly what a new IP needs as it enters the world.

Wrapping up

For Kepler, this campaign was an undoubted success. Proof that creator marketing at scale doesn’t have to be complex or time-consuming. With the right tools, a game can enjoy exceptional results with minimal friction.

In fact, Kepler’s publishing team are already looking forward to using our platform for their future projects. We’ll leave you with their thoughts:

Kepler partnered with Lurkit back in 2024, and since then, it has proved itself to be the platform for content spread. Lurkit was a part of the success for Expedition 33, and we look forward to collaborating with our community of over 3,000 Lurkit creators!''
‍
Davey Robson, Snr Influencer Marketing Manager @Kepler Interactive

If you need a platform to power your next game’s creator marketing, look no further. Get in touch and let’s chat.

And, if you're one of the few people yet to try Sandfall's incredible debut, Expedition 33 is available to play now on PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

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