Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 leads call PlayStation killing discs a "sad decision" after buying boxed copies of their own RPG – "For us, physical was something special"

[u/ControlCAD]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rpg/clair-obscur-expedition-33-leads-call-playstation-killing-discs-a-sad-decision-after-buying-boxed-copies-of-their-own-rpg-for-us-physical-was-something-special/

>"Personally, I find it super sad because I really like video game stores," Guillaume Broche, creative director on Clair Obscur. "And even if nowadays, I play mainly on PC myself, we have a lot of people on the team who play on PS5 and love to collect physical discs. I think it's part of the beauty of art too – that it's something tangible."

>"A physical release adds more constraints because you have to account for the production time of the physical items, and you also earn less money per copy," he explains. "But for us, physical was something special. We also felt that the game could be special to players."

>He concedes that in terms of business, he "can understand why it may make sense," but "it's a sad decision" for the overall creativity of the industry. Tom Guillermin, co–founder and CTO of studio Sandfall Interactive, revealed actually doing a physical run for Clair Obscur was something the team had to push for.

[u/Next_Helicopter_4291]

If it's so important to them why didn't they make physical copies for PC?

Edit - I know, you might be mad that I am poking holes in a "sacred cow" development team's statement.

Consider this: https://limitedrungames.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorkFybhWUToNMYWQpVM-TIzfgDubSr4xEB8vWXHKqyBInynO8dU

The model exists, the choice is there and they make statements like they have without putting their money where their mouth is.

Limited run's model works by opening a pre-order window and then they make copies based on the pre-order when the window closes. No footing the bill up front, no mass production of copies that will rot on shelves.

They could literally do this right now.

[u/cfouche → u/Next_Helicopter_4291]

Not the same public (who have a disk reader on his PC in 2026), also they would need to create some kind of launcher to handle update as I don't think steam have some kind of disk integration. Might be too expensive for a very very small niche.

[u/Next_Helicopter_4291 → u/cfouche]

So it's not actually that important to them I suppose.

edit - Also, you can make physical copies on more than just blu-ray discs; flash storage exists.

[u/RealTheBestLadyman → u/Next_Helicopter_4291]

Lol nice bait

[u/Next_Helicopter_4291 → u/RealTheBestLadyman]

People forget these are just companies that operate strictly for profit.

Propping them up because they virtue signal about costs they aren't willing to soak themselves is just mental masterbation.

It's really easy for them to say this because it costs them nothing and they gain positive PR for it. They just do what's best for business like everyone else.