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

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive GOTY candidate, it’s also an enormous sales triumph. Studio the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game topped 5 million units in sales, this is even with it being a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

Its success was a surprise to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a good game that would meet reasonable sales results,” the COO and producer stated.

Another leading developer pointed out this title's review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, was “maybe the biggest shock to the studio compared to “our initial expectations and the actual outcome turned out to be. Because when it dropped the entire team were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception prompted the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, along with challenging bosses, as announced would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, while the game is growing, it's unlikely the team will expand. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for the project and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that worked for this game then develop major titles sequentially,” they said.

The size of Sandfall generated a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for game development. Although the team is and was truly compact next to major studios, checking the title's staff list indicates numerous contributors worked on it; the French studio hired a team in Korea to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“Some hiring will occur a bit more for sure when facing next an upcoming production peak down the line,” they stated. “But I would see rather a creative atelier comprising a handful highly skilled individuals that create a work of art together.” He noted that Sandfall’s vision as developers “is more to maintain the key advantages that made this achievement possible originally.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to say specifically regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, I tried to get them to — the team does know what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of this project,” a developer explained. “The timing isn't right to specify our next interests, however, it's crucial to adhere to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The developer added that the project originated from the creative director “work[ing] on his dream game. And hopefully that philosophy we can continue as well for future productions.”