The surprise hit Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 has been able to convince many players since its release, despite a fairly small developer team. The creators of the game recently commented in an interview on the state of the gaming industry. In this, they also express their own opinion on the practices of many AAA studios that they consciously want to avoid.
What are the creators of the game talking about? In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, COO of Sandfall and producer of Clair Obscur, François Meurisse, as well as Matthew Handrahan from the publisher Kepler discuss the success of Expedition 33 and what the studio’s plans for the future are.
In the interview, they talk about their team, which they consciously keep small. They also want to refrain from drastically increasing the number of employees in the future just to release the next games even faster. There are more sustainable ways for that.
For this reason, they view the practices of many AAA studios in the current state of the gaming industry rather critically.
Here you can see the trailer for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from Studio Sandfall:
“A lot of irresponsible practices” in the gaming industry
What do the developers criticize? The team behind Clair Obscur consciously decides against adopting the (partially overly ambitious) approach of AAA studios and expanding dramatically. Especially in light of the current state of game development, where ever-increasing budgets and team sizes shape the industry.
I believe that there are many irresponsible practices in the industry. Some games can make it. Grand Theft Auto 6 will make it, we can all say that with great confidence. But there are many games that are developed with very large teams and for a lot of money that are not successful, and that comes at a price. People lose their jobs. God knows how many layoffs there have been in the industry in recent years.
Matthew Handrahan, Portfolio Director at Kepler Interactive (via GamesIndustry.biz)
What is their own approach? Regarding the future of the studio and the publisher, the developers have their own approach to bring future projects to success.
“We want to maintain the organization that made us successful,” says Meurisse, whose opinion is supported by Handrahan: “I think keeping a core team that develops the vision and the game, and then expanding as needed through things like outsourcing, is a very smart and sustainable way to manage game development.”
That their approach has paid off is evident from the success of the game. Because Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has become one of the biggest surprises of 2025 despite the small team. Just recently, the team was able to celebrate a special milestone that even surprised the developers: “You can’t make this stuff up” – Expedition 33 celebrates a special anniversary that even the developers can hardly believe
