Despite Overwhelming Success, Expedition 33 Creators Aim to Keep Team Compact

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong Game of the Year contender, but also an enormous sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title topped five million copies in sales, this is in spite of its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as a surprise to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience garnering some average sales results,” the COO and producer explained.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, was the most surprising moment to the studio versus what we anticipated and what the reality of the field was. Once it was published all staff members were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

This triumph prompted work on a free update for the game featuring fresh areas, adversaries, along with challenging bosses, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, it's unlikely the studio to grow. Our team includes a great team guided by a visionary director possessing strong ideas for this game and also for new ideas. Our goal is to maintain the human scale that led to our success then develop one big game after another,” they said.

The size of Sandfall drummed up a storm of discussion following launch. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, looked at the development group as the model for creative teams. Although the team is and was truly compact next to major studios, a quick look at Expedition 33’s credits shows that numerous contributors participated; Sandfall contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more definitely when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the executive stated. “Yet I picture more of a workshop with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that can make artistic collaborations.” It was stated that the studio's philosophy as developers “aims to keep the key advantages that made this achievement possible from the start.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details what’s next — believe me, I tried to get them to — the team does know their essential identity. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer said. “It's a bit too early to specify what will interest us, however, it's crucial to adhere to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

They added how this game started with the creative director developing his passion title. And hopefully this approach will be repeated as well for future productions.”