Despite Massive Achievement, Expedition 33 Developers Plan to Keep Studio Small

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive Game of the Year contender, but also a huge financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner announced that the game exceeded 5 million units in sales, this is despite its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as a surprise to the developers. I firmly believed that we would have an enjoyable experience garnering moderate market performance,” the COO and producer commented.

Another leading developer noted this title's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, was the greatest surprise” to the team relative to “our initial expectations and the actual outcome turned out to be. When the score released all staff members was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success resulted in the studio creating new free content for players featuring fresh areas, foes, and boss fights, reportedly is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate they'll hire extensively. Our team includes an excellent group guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for this game and future concepts. We'd like to keep the human scale that led to our success and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the executive added.

Their team size sparked a storm of discussion upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, looked at the development group as the model for a studio. While Sandfall was and is truly compact versus large developers, checking the title's staff list reveals many individuals worked on it; Sandfall contracted a Korean team handling movement and effects, for example.

“We plan to recruit a little more definitely when facing next an upcoming production peak down the line,” they said. “Yet I picture more of a workshop comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators that can make artistic collaborations.” He noted that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “focuses on preserving the strengths that enabled this success originally.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details about future projects — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — they are certain their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of our creations,” a developer remarked. “It's still premature to announce future passions, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that drives our passion.”

The developer noted how this game originated from the visionary developing his passion title. We aspire that's something we will be able to do in coming projects.”