In spite of Overwhelming Success, Expedition 33 Creators Aim to Maintain Studio Lean
The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY candidate, but also a huge sales triumph. Developer the development team along with publisher their publishing partner announced that the game exceeded five million copies sold, this is even with its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.
The game's performance came as quite a shock for the team. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a solid title that would meet moderate sales results,” the COO and producer explained.
Another leading developer pointed out that Clair Obscur’s critical score, now standing at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment for everyone compared to our early predictions and what the reality proved to be. Because when it dropped all staff members was screaming and jumping. The energy was electric.”
This triumph resulted in work on new free content for the game with a new environment, enemies, plus epic encounters, reportedly will release in the next few months.
That said, despite the game's evolution, don’t expect the studio to grow. “We have a talented crew guided by a visionary director possessing strong ideas for our work and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the small-team dynamic that worked for this game then develop major titles sequentially,” the producer added.
The size of Sandfall sparked a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, such as the famed director, considered this studio as the “ideal” for creative teams. Although the team is and was relatively lean next to major studios, checking the game's credits shows that numerous contributors worked on it; the French studio hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, to illustrate.
“Some hiring will occur slightly more definitely if we have a future production surge in the coming years,” the producer said. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing collective masterpieces.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “is more to maintain the strengths that enabled this success in the first place.”
Although it's not the right time to disclose concrete plans about future projects — believe me, I tried to get them to — they are certain what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of this project,” they remarked. “It's a bit too early to be able to tell future passions, but it's important also to stay true to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that excites us.”
The developer noted how this game began with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. We aspire that philosophy we will be able to do as well for future productions.”