The Streisand effect has taken hold
This is what happens when you become a giant in your media. The response from the side of Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 and its managers were clearly waiting following the affair first mentioned by Olivier Gay, the author of the comic strip “L’Académie Clair-Obscur”, declaring to have received a letter from a lawyer regarding the title of his work, which posed a problem for the legal team of the Montpellier game.
The silence of the weekend had time to create a particularly powerful Streisand effect for the author, who also received a lot of support in addition to a spike in orders for his comic. It must be said that, seen from the outside, the approach seemed relatively dubious when we look back into the context of the dispute.
And on this Monday, March 9, it was still via Olivier Gay and his social networks that we had news. He dwells even more on the evidence motivating his position, showing the creative process and justifying the anteriority of his work. He begins his new thread with a small update on this story, as well as thanks for this visibly decisive outpouring of messages:
“For those who wanted to know the rest of this story, the founders of the Studio contacted us directly, and I hope we will find a solution that suits everyone! In any case, I wanted to thank you, because this tweet had an incredible audience and without you, it probably wouldn’t have turned out the same way. So thank you, it’s thanks to YOU.
A Montpellier response that provokes a reaction
The publication was finally followed, a few minutes later, by the official Sandfall Interactive account, through the following message:
Hello everyone, we saw the discussions, thank you for bringing us up to speed on the situation. We are in contact with the publishing house and Olivier to find a fair solution for everyone.
A response which has the merit of demonstrating that things are progressing behind the scenes, but which has not really convinced everyone. Particularly with regard to the expression “a fair solution for everyone”implying that it is still a question of intellectual property that the camp of Chiaroscuro: Expedition 33 really wants to assert a minimum.
Finally, it was the Drakoo publishing house that insisted on publishing a press release on this story on Bluesky. Obviously, and as with Olivier Gay’s speech, the message is intended to show all the good faith behind the comic book creation process:
Following the author Olivier Gay’s receipt of a formal notice from the publisher of the video game Clair-Obscur: Expedition 33, we would like to provide some context. Creating a comic book series is a long process, often spanning several years between conception and release. Clair-Obscur Academy was imagined in 2019 and the title validated before the game was announced. Our intention was never to create confusion with video games, nor to take advantage of their notoriety. This is an independent editorial project, imagined by our authors and consistent with our editorial line. Neither the graphics nor the story have anything in common with the game. Since Saturday March 7, we have been in direct contact with Sandfall Interactive to find together a solution that respects the rights and interests of everyone.
It is difficult to predict what kind of amicable agreement could result from these discussions, which we will relay to you once this is known, but the hypothesis of a misunderstanding is greatly remote. And even if the development team probably doesn’t have complete control over the subject, not everyone is happy with it.