In spite of Runaway Achievement, Expedition 33 Developers Intend to Keep Team Small

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong GOTY contender, it’s also a huge financial hit. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner announced that this title surpassed five million copies sold, this is in spite of its status as a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance was a shock to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we'd create an enjoyable experience achieving moderate commercial success,” the COO and producer explained.

A technical director noted the game's critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” for everyone versus what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception resulted in work on a complimentary expansion for players with a new environment, enemies, plus epic encounters, reportedly would be out sometime soon.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, don’t expect the team will expand. We've built a talented crew under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for our work plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the close-knit size that led to our success and do maybe one big game after another,” the executive added.

The size of Sandfall drummed up significant conversation upon the title's release. Some developers, such as the famed director, looked at Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team versus large developers, a quick look at the title's staff list indicates dozens of people were involved; the French studio partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more definitely should there be next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” they stated. “However, I envision rather a creative atelier comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that the studio's philosophy as developers “is more to maintain the strengths that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans regarding upcoming titles — rest assured, I tried to get them to — they are certain their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, forms the foundation of our creations,” a developer explained. “The timing isn't right to specify future passions, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to our studio's essence through compelling worlds plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer noted how this game began with the visionary developing his passion title. We aspire that philosophy will be repeated with upcoming games.”