Despite Runaway Success, Expedition 33 Creators Aim to Maintain Studio Lean

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive Game of the Year contender, but also a massive sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title topped five million copies in sales, this is despite it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance was a surprise to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a solid title that would meet moderate commercial success,” the COO and producer stated.

The CTO and lead programmer noted this title's critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as the most surprising moment for everyone relative to what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. Because when it dropped all staff members celebrated excitedly. The energy was electric.”

That success has led to Sandfall developing a complimentary expansion for the game with a new environment, enemies, along with challenging bosses, as announced will release in the next few months.

However, while the game is growing, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. We've built a talented crew with a strong creative director with a clear direction for the project and future concepts. We'd like to keep the human scale that made this possible and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the producer said.

Their team size drummed up a storm of discussion following launch. Some developers, including renowned designers, viewed this studio as the “ideal” for a studio. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, a quick look at the game's credits indicates many individuals participated; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur a little more definitely if we have an increase in development down the line,” the producer stated. “But I would see more of a workshop comprising a handful really talented people that can make collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as developers “focuses on preserving the strengths that made this achievement possible from the start.”

While it may be not the right time to say specifically what’s next — rest assured, I tried to get them to — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” they remarked. “The timing isn't right to announce future passions, yet we must to remain faithful to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the visionary pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped this approach we will be able to do with upcoming games.”