"I just received a letter from a lawyer from [Sandfall Interactive], demanding that I stop selling my comic book. It's just an unpleasant coincidence. The fantasy series follows an academy of magicians and a simple peasant who joins their ranks after developing his own incredible powers."
"Beyond sharing the fantasy genre, the story hardly resembles Sandfall's hit video game. The obvious sticking point is the title, though "Clair Obscur" just means "light dark" in French. Neither are the first works of fiction to use the phrase in their title, as it most commonly referred to a style of painting."
"Gay has written novels since 2012, including an expanded universe novel for Assassin's Creed, The Blade of Aizu, in 2021. Sandfall Interactive founder Guillaume Broche was an Ubisoft employee before departing in 2020, giving the two a very tenuous connection."
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a French turn-based RPG, became an unexpected 2025 blockbuster success, winning Game Awards recognition. As the developer Sandfall Interactive capitalizes on this success, it has issued legal action against fantasy author Olivier Gay over his graphic novel Académie Clair-Obscur. Gay published the work through Drakoo after signing a deal in 2024, though he conceived the idea in 2019. The graphic novel follows an academy of magicians and differs significantly from the video game beyond sharing the fantasy genre. The title "Clair Obscur" translates to "light dark" in French and historically refers to a painting technique, making it a common phrase in artistic works.
Read at Kotaku
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