Kepler Interactive, the publisher of "Light and Shadow: Expedition No. 33", highly praised this JRPG game.Kepler said the release of this RPG coincides with the launch of B-Series "The Elder Scrolls 4: Annihilation Remake", which is the re-release of one of the best RPG games in the industry to date.Kepler Interactive praised Xbox's excellent marketing for its huge success in the game.As for "The Elder Scrolls 4", the company knows that Japanese and Western RPGs attract different audiences respectively.Therefore, Light and Shadow: Expedition No. 33 was not affected by the release of the latest remake of Bethesda.

"Light and Shadow: Expedition No. 33" publisher praised Xbox for helping games take off

Kepler said Xbox helped “change players’ impressions of it” after highlighting Light and Shadow: Expeditionary Team 33 at last summer’s press conference.

This hit RPG developed by French studio Sandfall Interactive sold more than one million copies in three days.Xbox supports it very much, not only showing it at two online events, but also adding it to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.

"At the summer show, our game was put together with traditional 3A masterpieces like Gears of War and Fables," said Matt Handrahan, senior investment manager at Kepler, in an interview with The Game Business. This approach gives players a clearer understanding of what our game is.

It would be difficult for us to do this without this collaboration support from Xbox.For example, it is far from enough to rely on trial demos on Steam alone.This gives us more confidence to occupy this field of AA-level games.This field is between small-scale games and super-large productions, with a wide coverage but a bit blurry.”

Xbox supports this game very much, but unexpectedly, the raid release of "The Elder Scrolls 4: Annihilation Remake" is somewhat "inconvenient".Microsoft suddenly announced and launched this RPG game with different styles a few days before the release of "Expedition 33", and also joined the Game Pass service.

"We have always been aware that Expedition No. 33 has its own unique positioning. When I was working in the media, I found that the appeal and audience of Western RPGs and Japanese RPGs are very different. I know that many people will play The Elder Scrolls, but they may not necessarily play Final Fantasy, and vice versa."

"By the time we released, we had our momentum and felt we could stand shoulder to shoulder with Annihilation. Other factors, such as our pricing strategy and Game Pass, also made us feel confident about the game. We were confident about it. And it turned out that everything went very well. The approaching release of Annihilation did not seem to affect us at all. To some extent, it made everyone focus on high-quality RPGs that week and discuss the category."

"I think that week of "Observation" just made everyone pay more attention to high-quality RPGs, and the entire industry is talking about this type."

The game was undoubtedly a huge success for Kepler, but Matt Handrahan revealed that the company was still in its early prototype stage when it first saw the game and did not sign it immediately.

"That was an early version, we could see potential, but the framework of the game was not perfect at the time. For this kind of game with a tactical combat system, you have to confirm that this part is feasible, and make sure that the game's worldview is moving. We need to have confidence in their execution."

"Our CEO Alexis Garavaryan had the most contact with them at the time. He saw the potential, but felt that some parts needed to be polished. So Sandfall went back to perfect and showed it again. The second time we signed it almost instantly."

"One of our executives received an email from another publisher (I won't name it) saying that Kepler had signed a contract before they started to inspect Expedition No. 33. We acted very quickly. If you find a game that excites you, you have to take action immediately. There are many good games, but there are not many really top-notch boutiques."

35% of "Expedition 33" players also played "The Elder Scrolls 4: Annihilation Remake"

According to Ampere, the player groups of "Expedition 33" and "Elder Scrolls 4: Annihilation Remake" have obvious overlap.

Data shows that 35% of Expedition 33 players also played "The Elder Scrolls 4: Annihilation Remake".This is mainly reflected in the Xbox version, and 55% of the Xbox version of Expedition 33 players also experienced "Annihilation".Both games are in Xbox Game Pass.On Steam, this overlap ratio dropped to 22%, and even lower on PS5, at only 16%.

The data covers major European markets, the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, tracking player data from the release of the two games to Sunday, April 27.

"Annihilation" will be released on Tuesday, April 22, while "Expedition 33" will be released on Thursday, April 24.

Thanks to Game Pass, Xbox is the preferred platform for both games.45% of Expedition 33 use Xbox, while 47% of Annihilation use Xbox.The situation will be different afterwards.

The second largest platform for Expedition No. 33 is PlayStation, accounting for 30%.This Japanese RPG style is similar to "Final Fantasy" and usually performs well on Sony's platform.Steam accounts for 25%.The second largest platform for "Annihilation" is Steam (34%) and PlayStation accounts for 19%."Annihilation" is a PC-style RPG that was initially successful on Xbox 360 and PC.

Both games have no subscription services on Steam and PlayStation.

Game Pass brings more players, but the downside is that the game time is shorter

According to Ampere Global Player Data, the average play time of Expedition 33 on Xbox is 2.2 hours, compared to 4.4 hours on PlayStation and Steam.The average play time for "Obsolution" is 3.6 hours on Steam, 3.8 hours on PlayStation, and 2.2 hours on Xbox.

Both games have received extensive support in media coverage.According to Press Engine, over 5,000 articles on Annihilation have been reported in the past two weeks, with an estimated 953 million independent readers."Expedition No. 33" has nearly 4,250 articles, and the number of independent readers is expected to reach 1 billion.