Despite Massive Success, Expedition 33 Developers Aim to Maintain Team Small

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY contender, it’s also a huge financial hit. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game exceeded five million copies sold, and that’s even with its status as a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as an unexpected turn to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have a solid title that would meet some average market performance,” a senior team member explained.

Another leading developer pointed out the game's critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as the greatest surprise” to the team compared to what we anticipated and the final result proved to be. When the score released everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. It was really frantic.”

The positive reception resulted in Sandfall developing a free update for the title including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, reportedly is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for the project and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the human scale that worked for this game then develop one big game after another,” the producer said.

Their team size drummed up significant conversation upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, including renowned designers, looked at Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking Expedition 33’s credits shows that dozens of people were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“We will hire a little more for sure if we have an increase in development down the line,” the executive said. “Yet I picture more of a workshop with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that the studio's philosophy as a studio “aims to keep the key advantages that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

While it may be premature for the studio to say specifically about future projects — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their essential identity. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer explained. “It's still premature to announce what will interest us, yet we must to stay true to our creative core through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

The developer mentioned that the project started with the visionary developing his passion title. It is hoped that philosophy we will be able to do in coming projects.”