In spite of Massive Achievement, Clair Obscur Developers Aim to Keep Studio Lean

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top Game of the Year candidate, but also an enormous commercial success. Studio the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title exceeded 5 million units sold, and that’s despite its status as a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as quite a surprise to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a solid title that would meet moderate commercial success,” a key executive commented.

Another leading developer noted that Clair Obscur’s critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock for everyone compared to what we anticipated and the actual outcome of the field was. When the score released all staff members were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception resulted in work on a free update for the title including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, which they said will release in the next few months.

However, as the title expands, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. “We have a great team under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for our work plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that made this possible and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the producer added.

Their team size sparked significant conversation following launch. Some developers, including renowned designers, considered this studio as the model for game development. Although the team is and was truly compact next to major studios, a quick look at Expedition 33’s credits reveals many individuals participated; the French studio partnered with overseas animators for animation work, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur a bit more for sure when facing next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” the producer stated. “But I would see essentially a craft studio with a small number of really talented people capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as a company “is more to maintain the key advantages that enabled this success in the first place.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details what’s next — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — they are certain their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer said. “It's still premature to be able to tell our next interests, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that excites us.”

The lead programmer added how this game began with the creative director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that's something we will be able to do as well for future productions.”