A lunar request
The name of Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 was (and still is) so much on everyone’s lips that, from now on, as soon as we see or hear “chiaroscuro” in another context, then we automatically think of the game. An observation that the legal team around the intellectual property of the Sandfall Interactive game must have made, since Olivier Gay therefore received this improbable letter asking him to stop publishing his comic book “L’Académie Clair-Obscur” under this name.
Following this letter, several problems surfaced and were mentioned by the author who, on social networks, made a small thread to explain why this initiative makes no sense:
I have just received a lawyer’s letter from the game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Sandfall Interactive, asking me to stop selling my comic book published by Drakoo entitled Académie Clair-Obscur, supposed to ride on the undeniable success of the game. Good. For your information, this is a project that was pitched to Drakoo in 2019 and for which I have had a contract under this name since March 2024, well before the release of the game. So we agree that it has nothing to do with a desire to surf on anything.
Unfortunately, one of the legal team’s arguments should perhaps be there: certainly the comic existed before the game, but given that the title now has an echo with the French RPG, there could be a sort of positive externality for Olivier Gay’s work.
But regardless, it is obvious that there is no question of knowingly taking advantage of the fame of the Sandfall game, especially since the story has no similarity with the universe of the Montpellier title and the author himself has praised the qualities of the game on the networks:
Furthermore, the comic has nothing to do with their story either, it is a peasant who joins an elite magic school, and Chiaroscuro referred to a particular magic technique. […] Because that’s the most frustrating thing, I actually played Clair-Obscur, I platinum the game […]I recommended it on the networks and I have boundless admiration for the success story of Sandfall Interactive.
Who is responsible for this initiative?
Another reason why the approach is daring is that the term “chiaroscuro” refers to a style of painting whose development took place during the 16th century, and whose origins even date back to Antiquity. Although this expression is not commonplace, it seems surreal that a major artistic part of History must now answer to a video game in 2026, as enormous as its success.
The saddest part of this affair is that Olivier Gay finds himself unable to undertake all the legal steps required to defend himself, and has decided to change the name of his comic book to continue selling it for peace of mind, without knowing if success will still be there.
Now, who is really behind this decision? We give the development team the benefit of the doubt because, given the unknown status a year ago and the speeches made since the start of their success story often praising creativity, it is very difficult to imagine that the initiative comes from there.
What about Kepler Interactive, publisher of the game? And then there are the people closest to the game’s intellectual property, who probably wouldn’t hesitate to secure the brand. But in this case, let’s take “Expedition 33”, although obviously the term is much more specific than “chiaroscuro”.
In any case, no official communication has been made so far even if, again, we suspect that the development team has been informed of Olivier Gay’s publication, and we hope that the situation regains some sense. The rest is probably happening behind the scenes.