Despite Runaway Achievement, Expedition 33 Developers Aim to Keep Team Compact

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY contender, but also an enormous sales triumph. Studio the development team and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title topped 5 million units sold, and that’s even with its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

This achievement came as a shock to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have a solid title garnering some average commercial success,” a senior team member commented.

A technical director noted the game's critical score, now standing at 93, was the greatest surprise” for everyone compared to “our initial expectations and the final result proved to be. Because when it dropped the entire team was screaming and jumping. It was really frantic.”

The positive reception resulted in the studio creating a complimentary expansion for players with a new environment, enemies, plus epic encounters, which they said is coming sometime soon.

However, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have a great team with a strong creative director with a clear direction for the project and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the small-team dynamic that worked for this game and do maybe large projects one by one,” they noted.

The studio's scale drummed up plenty of debate when the game came out. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, looked at this studio as the model for creative teams. Although the team is and was relatively lean next to major studios, a quick look at the game's credits shows that dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall hired a team in Korea for animation work, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more for sure should there be next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” the producer stated. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio of a few really talented people capable of producing a work of art together.” He noted that Sandfall’s vision as a company “is more to maintain the strengths that made this achievement possible originally.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details about future projects — rest assured, efforts were made — they are certain their essential identity. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of what we built,” a developer explained. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to our studio's essence featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that drives our passion.”

The lead programmer added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began with the visionary “work[ing] on his dream game. It is hoped that philosophy will be repeated in coming projects.”