A comic book about a peasant who enrols at a magical school may be forced to change its name, following legal action from Sandfall Interactive.
Olivier Gay’s L’Academie Clair-Obscur released earlier this year, after being conceived in 2019 and picked up by a publisher in 2024.
But legal representatives for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 believe it is infringing on the award-winning RPG’s copyright, and is trying to piggyback off its success.
After intense criticism from fans, the firm has now commented on the situation.
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Its statement, machine translated from French, reads:
“Hello everyone, we've seen the discussions, thank you for bringing the situation to our attention. We're in contact with the publisher and Olivier to find a fair solution for everyone.”
In a series of viral X (or Twitter) posts, Gay describes how he conceived the comic years ago, and jokes he may have been able to sue in the opposite direction had his book been released earlier.
Ultimately he concedes that he doesn’t have the financial muscle or the willpower to fight Sandfall Interactive, and says he will rebrand the comic book if necessary to avoid a legal fight.
Now it seems the dev is actively searching for a solution, and Gay seems optimistic about a positive outcome.
He wrote, as machine translated from French:
"For those who wanted to know the continuation of this story, the founders of the studio contacted me directly, and I hope we’ll find a solution that works for everyone!"
We know situations like this are difficult, because obviously Sandfall Interactive needs to protect its intellectual property.
But it’s clear L’Academie Clair-Obscur is completely unrelated, and any similarities are coincidental.
Gay concludes that it’s frustrating to see this situation transpire, because he earned the Platinum Trophy in the game and has deep respect for what it achieved.