Despite Runaway Success, Clair Obscur Creators Plan to Maintain Team Small

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY contender, it’s also a massive commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that the game topped five million copies in sales, this is even with it being a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as quite a surprise for the team. I firmly believed that we would have a solid title that would meet moderate commercial success,” the COO and producer explained.

Another leading developer pointed out that Clair Obscur’s critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the team relative to our early predictions and the final result of the field was. Because when it dropped all staff members was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception prompted Sandfall developing new free content for the title including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, reportedly would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, while the game is growing, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. We've built a great team with a strong creative director possessing strong ideas for the project and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the small-team dynamic that led to our success then develop large projects one by one,” they noted.

Their team size generated significant conversation upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, looked at the development group as the model for game development. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean next to major studios, one glance at the game's credits shows that many individuals worked on it; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators for animation work, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more definitely when facing next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the executive said. “But I would see essentially a craft studio of a few highly skilled individuals that create artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as developers “focuses on preserving the strengths that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to say specifically about future projects — believe me, I tried to get them to — they are certain what’s at its core. “The turn-based aspect, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” the lead programmer said. “It's still premature to specify what will interest us, but it's important also to adhere to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

They added how this game started with the creative director developing his passion title. It is hoped that's something will be repeated in coming projects.”