Despite Overwhelming Success, Clair Obscur Creators Aim to Maintain Team Small

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong Game of the Year candidate, but also a huge commercial success. Studio the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title surpassed 5 million units in sales, this is despite its status as a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement came as quite a shock to Sandfall. I was convinced that we'd create a solid title achieving reasonable market performance,” a key executive stated.

A technical director remarked the game's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, was the most surprising moment to the team relative to “our initial expectations and the actual outcome turned out to be. When the score released all staff members was screaming and jumping. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception resulted in Sandfall developing new free content for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, plus epic encounters, which they said will release sometime soon.

That said, while the game is growing, don’t expect the team will expand. We've built a talented crew guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for this game and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the small-team dynamic that made this possible and perhaps create one big game after another,” the executive added.

Their team size generated plenty of debate upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, looked at Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for a studio. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the title's staff list reveals dozens of people worked on it; the French studio partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more definitely if we have next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that can make a work of art together.” He noted that the studio's philosophy as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that enabled this success in the first place.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to say specifically what’s next — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — the team does know what’s at its core. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer said. “The timing isn't right to be able to tell what will interest us, but it's important also to remain faithful to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

The lead programmer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began with the visionary developing his passion title. It is hoped this approach will be repeated with upcoming games.”