Sandfall Sued a Fan Over a Name, Then Walked It Back

Sandfall Interactive, the studio behind last year's acclaimed RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, spent a few days this month looking like exactly the kind of company it probably doesn't want to be. On March 6, French author Olivier Gay posted publicly that he had received a lawyer's letter from Sandfall's legal team instructing him to stop selling his graphic novel, L'Académie Clair-Obscur, on the grounds that its title was too close to the game's own name. Gay's book was first pitched in 2019 and contracted under that name in 2024. The game launched in 2025. The timeline isn't ambiguous.

Gay was clear about his position from the start: he's a fan of the game, his story has nothing to do with it, and he doesn't have the money or energy to fight a legal battle. He was prepared to rename the book and move on. That's the part that stings. A fan of your work, an independent creator, ready to capitulate not because he was wrong but because he simply couldn't afford to be right.

To Sandfall's credit, the studio didn't let that happen. On March 9, the developers acknowledged publicly they were in contact with Gay and his publisher. Then, on March 10, they posted a full statement explaining that the legal action was initiated to protect the studio against counterfeit products, but that it did not reflect their values or their desire to support fellow artists. The action was withdrawn. Sandfall wished Gay and his co-author Grelin success with the book.

Gay's own response was generous. He thanked the studio, specifically naming co-founder and COO François Meurisse as someone he spoke with directly. He said the conversations were warm, mentioned they even talked about the Simon fight, and confirmed L'Académie Clair-Obscur will continue under its original name. He closed with a line from the game itself. The man handled this with more grace than most people would.

The Gap Between a Studio's Values and Its Legal Department

This is a story that plays out constantly in creative industries, and it rarely ends this well. A studio builds a reputation on craft, on passion, on being the scrappy team that made something beautiful against the odds. Then the IP portfolio grows, the lawyers get involved, and suddenly cease-and-desist letters are going out to people who were never a threat. It's not malice. It's institutional reflex. Legal teams are paid to protect assets, and without direct creative oversight, they will cast a wide net.

The problem is that the damage lands before the correction does. Gay went public on March 6 feeling like he'd been blindsided by a studio he admired. The internet noticed. Sandfall's response came four days later. Those four days matter, because that's when the narrative sets.

Make no mistake, Sandfall did the right thing here. Pulling the action, reaching out personally, letting Gay keep his title, that's the outcome that needed to happen, and they got there. Developer Joe Wintergreen noted on Bluesky that the situation highlighted how quickly legal processes can run ahead of a studio's actual intentions. Others in the community pointed out that this kind of thing is exactly why independent creators often feel exposed when their work brushes up against anything with a larger IP footprint, regardless of who got there first.

Sandfall is still, by most measures, one of the better studios in the industry right now. A sub-40-person team that shipped one of the most polished RPGs in years deserves that reputation. But the gap between "we support fellow artists" as a stated value and "we sent a lawyer's letter to a fan-author with no resources to fight back" as an action is worth naming. The fix here wasn't complicated. It just needed someone at the studio to actually look at the situation and make a call. Credit where it's due: François Meurisse apparently did exactly that.

Gay ends his statement with the game's own motto: "For those who come after." It's a good line. Hopefully the lesson here travels with it.

Want to see more? Catch all the latest gaming news, updates, and patch notes right here at XP Gained!