How the studio behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 swept the world of video games | BBC News

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines to take a closer look at one. story and why it matters. I'm Pete Ross. and today we're diving into the world of. video games, taking a closer look at the. billion-dollar industry big picture and. a game that swept the boards at The Game. Awards. Joining me to talk about all. that is Newsbeat's Andrew Rogers. Andrew, thanks for joining us. There's a. lot to get into here and the first thing. I kind of want to talk about these Game. Awards. They're a huge deal. Uh they're.

a bit like, I think it's fair to say, the Oscars of gaming. But some people. watching this right now would be quite. surprised to hear that there's such a. big event for games. But it's a huge. industry, isn't it? It's a massive. industry and it is one of those things. where if you don't play games yourself, you might not realize that there's this. huge ecosystem around it. So, as well as. the games themselves, you've got. spin-off TV shows, spin-off movies, and. you've also got award ceremonies like. the Game Awards. And this is really one.

of those moments during the year where. people set up and pay attention to video. games. And if you are somebody who plays. a lot of games, this is one of those. things that you want to watch because. you have both the award ceremony that. happens at The Game Awards where you can. see what some of the best games of the. year are and who's been doing really. well. But it's also a showcase for some. of the things that are coming up in the. year ahead. And because they know so. many people are going to be watching, this is where you get a lot of the. announcements for games that are going. to be coming up and movies based on.

games that are going to be coming up. So, people can start to get a feel of. what they might want to save their money. for in the year ahead. And it's become. an event that people watch it whatever. time zone it ends up falling in for you. Uh and I think last year it was more. than 150 million people ended up. watching it live and loads more people. will be catching up on it after that. So, it is a big event. And to call it. the Oscars of gaming, yeah, it's almost. like Oscars plus here's everything. that's coming up in the year ahead. So, it's a massive huge event. I I think one. of the reasons that, you know, if you're. not a gamer, something that might be.

grabbing attention of people today is. the big winner. You know, if we're. thinking about the Oscars, even if. you're not that into movies, you always. hear about the movie that sweeps the. boards and picks up all these awards. And this time it's particularly. significant because it comes from a very. small independent studio in France. Is. that right? It is. And much like with. the Oscars, it is one of those things. where if you see that something's been. nominated for a lot of awards and won a. lot of awards, you want to check it out. as well. And so, there could be quite a.

bit of success coming this game's way. It's called Claire Obscura: Expedition. 33. It's a role-playing game. So, that. means you get to play as these different. characters as they go out on their. adventures. You get to level them up and. make decisions on what they're going to. do. You get a bit of control. And one of. the reasons why it's stood out is that. it does feel a little bit distinct in. its style, in the way that it was. developed. And it's also been getting a. lot of praise for the acting within it. Um it's a little bit different from If. you've only seen games through kind of. big budget multiplayer games like.

shooters, it doesn't feel like that. This one tells a bit more of a story. Um. and it's been praised for a lot of that, including winning those kind of best. acting categories, best music. categories. And the other thing about it. is that it feels very distinctly French. The designers, the team behind it were. this small studio and they wanted to. bring that feeling of France into the. game, which won a a lot of success from. some of those big names, the biggest one. being the French president Emmanuel. Macron, who said uh wished this game all. the success. There was one award that's. kind of stood out to me a little bit.

further down the list. I think it was. something like the long long along the. lines of most anticipated game. And I think it was GTA, Grand Theft Auto. 6 that won that award. Now, correct me. if I'm wrong, but people have been. waiting for this game for years. And. it's been delayed again. But does that. point to a sort of more broader in. industry issue of how long these huge. blockbuster games take to make? I think. anticipated.

such an understatement. This is the game. that so many people are waiting for and. that we've basically assumed is already. going to break all the records in terms. of the numbers of sales. Um GTA 5, the. game before it, which we're a long way. from the launch of, but people still. play a lot and still rapidly outsells. quite a lot of games even, you know, being more than a decade old. This is. the game that that people are keeping an. eye on. And interestingly, it's had a. bit of a funny effect on the rest of the. games industry because it's so big, nobody wants to launch a game at the.

same time as GTA 6 is going to come out. because they know that people are going. to spend the money that they have for. games on that one that month. Now, the. launch for GTA 6 has kept on moving. So, there was a point where we were. expecting it this year. That has now. slipped again a couple times. It's now. going to be coming out next year. And. so, as a result, you've you've got games. launching at times they weren't. necessarily originally expected to. And. you can imagine a world where perhaps. The Game Awards this year and next year. look very different because of where GTA. is moving. But that's one of those.

pieces of media, GTA 6, that's going to. outsell. albums. It's going to outsell movies. This is going to be a big cultural. point. We do technically know when it's coming. out, uh but until it's in people's. hands, I think they're still not 100%. sure that it will come out the day it is. because it has moved a couple of times. so far. Isn't the length of time that it. takes to produce a game like GTA 6 or. Borderlands 4, for example, though, a. bit of an issue for the industry? Because you'll have people that are. waiting for this game that are now.

adults, perhaps got kids of their own. that were children themselves when these. games came out. Is that sustainable for. the industry? The games are taking. longer to make when it comes to those. really big budget ones that are so. expensive because you've got open worlds. that you need to program everything from. the clouds in the sky to the texture on. the sofa that a character sits on. There. There's a lot that goes into these games. and it does mean that studios are having. to plan a really, really long time and. in some cases put a lot of their. resources into one game on the.

assumption that it's going to do well. What that then means is if a game. perhaps doesn't do as well as expected, a lot of studios are now going through a. process where they need to consolidate. They might need to make people. redundant. And actually, when it comes. to the games industry, the security of. work, if you work in games development, has become one of those big issues over. the last few years because for a lot of. people they say it's really not a stable. career to be in because of things like. this. And yeah, as you say, people are.

waiting a long time. They're. anticipating things. And in the. meantime, you do then have those games. that take less time kind of sneaking in. through. You know, we've had winners in. the past at The Game Awards of games. that were made by one person in their. bedroom but then does extremely well. Think of things like Vampire Survivors. and Balatro, uh where they might look. like the graphics are relatively simple, but because the game mechanics are so. fun, they've managed to get people. playing and get people quite excited. about them. So, there's a bit of a mixed. eco- ecosystem out there. But for those.

ones that are making people wait a long. time, it is a long time. And just briefly, Andrew, what about the impact of AI on. the bigger picture for the industry? Quite controversial from a player's. point of view in terms of whether or not. they want AI in games. I I think. an ongoing conversation has been going. on on Steam, which is somewhere that you. might get your video games from if you. play on PC or on certain handhelds. And. on that, they've. they've got identifiers on there so you. can know if a game developer has used.

artificial intelligence while making. that game. And some people say, "Look, it's inevitable that they will be little. bits used." And some say, "No, we don't. want this anywhere near to it." An. interesting example is the game Arc. Raiders, which. actually won the best multiplayer award. at The Game Awards. This is one where they have said they've. used artificial intelligence to take the. recordings of actors who have done. script within the game and then make it. so they can then do more. uh add-ons later on using uh their voice.

using artificial intelligence. That's. something that some people are really. not happy about and led to some people. saying they won't buy the game because. they want to support voice actors. And. it is worth saying in that case, all the. voice actors said they were happy for. that to happen. But it is still. something that's quite controversial. And we've spoken to voice actors who are. a little bit worried that, you know, once this starts to come in more and. more, you know, what's to stop that from. then replacing humans within that. process? And the same for developers as. well. Lots for the industry to grapple with.

then, Andrew. Andrew, thank you so much for joining. us. That was BBC Newsbeat's Andrew. Rogers. If you want to hear more on this. story, you can listen to the Global News. podcast. Get that from wherever you get. your podcasts from. If you like this. episode, please do remember to. subscribe. And if there's any stories. you'd like us to cover, then do leave a. comment below.