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Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is the favorite amongst many to win game of the year at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards, and now Phil Spencer has cast his vote for the game while also praising other phenomenal releases this year.
Japanese outlet, Famitsu, asked the CEO of Microsoft Gaming for his personal game of the year. Phil Spencer is translated as responding, “I’ll leave our games [first-party Xbox] out of the question… I’m playing Hollow Knight Silksong now, and I love it. Another one that comes to mind is Clair Obscur Expedition 33. It’s very good”.
Phil Spencer also praised Ninja Gaiden Ragebound and vouched for “my friend Kojima’s Death Stranding 2”. However, while full of praise for these games, Spencer added, “I think the game of the year is probably Clair Obscur Expedition 33”. Lastly, concerning first-party Xbox games, Spencer said “Oblivion Remastered probably surprised a lot of people, and I also like DOOM The Dark Ages”.
In addition to Phil Spencer, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director, Naoki Hamaguchi, has recently shared Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is his GOTY pick. Sandfall Interactive won their first GOTY trophy recently at the Gamescom x Asia event attended by a record-breaking attendance of over 200,000.
Clair Obscur Expedition 33 Devs Wouldn’t Mind Winning GOTY but it’s Not the Goal
With a lot of people touting Expedition 33 to win game of the year, Sandfall’s CEO and creative director, Guillaume Broche, told PCGamesN that the “award would be a nice little bonus,” but “[GOTY] isn’t something we really aim for”. The director added, “Our philosophy is that we’ve already achieved so much more than we wanted to achieve” and that the studio has already won thanks to receiving “so many beautiful messages from players around the world saying that the game changed their lives and helped them through tough times”.
The director also pointed to the stellar collection of releases this year, admitting, “there are so many good games that it’s fine if we don’t get it [GOTY] – it’s perfectly okay and we’ll be happy anyway”. As for his own game of the year, Broche revealed his life has been consumed by Megabonk.
In addition to Broche, Sandfall Interactive COO, Francois Meurisse, said, “It would be presumptuous to say we wouldn’t be happy if we get some nominations and awards [but] I see awards as a reward for the fans”. The COO added, “I’m touched and moved by how many fans are saying ‘oh Expedition 33 should get this award or this award,’ so if we get something, the fans will also be super, super happy”.
The Game Awards is scheduled for December 11th. There are no nominations right now, but they should be revealed by mid-November.
In the meantime, Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is nominated for many categories belonging to the Golden Joystick Awards. The Golden Joystick Award 2025 winners will be announced on November 20th, and Expedition 33 is nominated for best storytelling, best visual design, and best soundtrack. Sandfall Interactive is also nominated for best studio, Jennifer English nominated for best lead performer as Maelle, and Ben Starr for best supporting performer as Verso.
This year’s Grammy nominations will also be announced on November 7th, and Clair Obscur Expedition 33 is seeking to become the first video game nominated for the Grammy category Best Song Written for Visual Media.
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