Despite Overwhelming Achievement, Clair Obscur Developers Aim to Keep Team Compact

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY candidate, it’s also a massive commercial success. Developer the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of it being a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as a surprise to the developers. I was convinced that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet some average market performance,” a senior team member explained.

A technical director pointed out this title's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, was the greatest surprise” to the studio relative to what we anticipated and what the reality of the field was. Once it was published the entire team celebrated excitedly. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception prompted work on a free update for the title including novel settings, foes, and boss fights, reportedly will release in the next few months.

However, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. Our team includes an excellent group with a strong creative director who has a great vision for the project and future concepts. We intend to preserve the human scale that worked for this game then develop one big game after another,” the producer noted.

Their team size generated a storm of discussion when the game came out. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, viewed the development group as the model for game development. Despite being relatively lean next to major studios, checking the game's credits shows that numerous contributors participated; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur a little more for sure when facing next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” they said. “But I would see rather a creative atelier comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that their core belief as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to say specifically about future projects — rest assured, efforts were made — the team does know what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of what we built,” the lead programmer explained. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, but it's important also to adhere to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

The developer added that the project started with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. We aspire this approach we will be able to do in coming projects.”