Despite Runaway Achievement, Expedition 33 Developers Aim to Keep Studio Small

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive Game of the Year candidate, it’s also a huge financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title topped five million copies in sales, this is even with its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

Its success was a shock for the team. I was convinced that we'd create a solid title garnering some average sales results,” a senior team member explained.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out this title's review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, was the most surprising moment to the team versus “our initial expectations and what the reality turned out to be. Because when it dropped the entire team celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

This triumph prompted the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, along with challenging bosses, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate they'll hire extensively. We've built a talented crew guided by a visionary director possessing strong ideas for the project and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the human scale that made this possible and do maybe major titles sequentially,” they added.

Their team size drummed up significant conversation upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, considered this studio as a perfect example for creative teams. Despite being relatively lean versus large developers, one glance at the game's credits indicates numerous contributors participated; the French studio contracted a Korean team for animation work, for example.

“We plan to recruit a bit more for sure should there be next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the producer stated. “But I would see more of a workshop with a small number of highly skilled individuals that create a work of art together.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “focuses on preserving the successful elements that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details what’s next — rest assured, I tried to get them to — the developers understand their essential identity. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of what we built,” the lead programmer explained. “It's a bit too early to be able to tell future passions, however, it's crucial to stay true to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

They mentioned that the project originated from the creative director pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that philosophy will be repeated in coming projects.”