In spite of Overwhelming Success, Expedition 33 Developers Aim to Keep Team Small

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive Game of the Year candidate, but also an enormous financial hit. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner revealed that the game topped five million copies in sales, this is despite it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement came as a surprise for the team. I was convinced that we'd create a solid title achieving reasonable market performance,” a senior team member commented.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out the game's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, was the greatest surprise” to the team compared to “our initial expectations and the final result proved to be. Because when it dropped the entire team was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

This triumph has led to Sandfall developing a complimentary expansion for players including novel settings, adversaries, along with challenging bosses, reportedly is coming sometime soon.

Nevertheless, despite the game's evolution, it's unlikely they'll hire extensively. We've built a great team under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project and future concepts. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that made this possible and perhaps create one big game after another,” the executive added.

The size of Sandfall generated significant conversation following launch. Some developers, such as the famed director, viewed this studio as the “ideal” for creative teams. Although the team is and was indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the game's credits reveals many individuals were involved; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“We will hire slightly more definitely should there be next an upcoming production peak down the line,” they said. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio of a few really talented people that can make a work of art together.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “is more to maintain the key advantages that enabled this success from the start.”

Although it's premature for the studio to say specifically what’s next — believe me, efforts were made — they are certain their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of what we built,” a developer remarked. “It's still premature to be able to tell future passions, however, it's crucial to stay true to our studio's essence through compelling worlds plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

The developer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with the creative director pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that's something we can continue in coming projects.”