More than a year after Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 helped make French game studio Sandfall Interactive an international superstar, France’s president Emmanuel Macron has announced a new international gaming festival.
The festival does not yet have an official date, scope, or location, but Macron nonetheless revealed his plan for France during September 7’s Lumiere Summit, which intends to unite purveyors of “the moving-image,” per its website.
“Because video games are part of our culture, we are creating an international video game festival,” Macron writes in a Twitter post accompanying a clip of his Lumiere Summit speech, translated by GamesRadar+. He also shares his desire to bring video games into the larger world of exceptional French art.
So, Macron’s goal for his video game festival would be to publicize and popularize French video game development. He references “huge, global successes in French video games” that France needs to spend a lot more time paying attention to.
It almost sounds like Macron wants to create another version of Gamescom, the Germany-based conference that brings international industry leaders together in Europe. France already has a smaller-scale version of this in its Paris Games Week, but Macron is yet to say how the two differ.
Anyway, Sandfall Interactive has managed to place the limelight on the French development scene, and now its home country is keeping the momentum. At this point, Clair Obscur is a landmark game after sweeping awards ceremonies and becoming a genuine industry darling. But France’s future of gaming could be even more exciting.
In December 2025, Macron congratulated the makers of Expedition 33 for the second time, calling the RPG a historic French title.
This proposed international festival could be an opportunity for French developers to proceed with more Clair Obscur-type ambition. For all we know, the next Clair Obscur could already be out there – it only needs a place to reach you.