Following the massive success seen by Sandfall Interactive with last year’s Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the studio is now looking to the future. In an interview with Automaton Media, studio CEO Guillaume Broche even said that the team might “go a bit crazy” with its next title. However, it also comes down to the fact that the team wants to “find this flame” that it had for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 again.
“It’s too early to say anything precise, but we had a lot of fun creating Expedition 33, and it’s a game that we all love internally, so we want to find this flame, this passion again for the next project,” said Broche on the subject of Sandfall’s next game.
“Expedition 33 was quite a long project too. Especially for me, it was six years. For Tom it was five and a half, and for most of the other members it was between four and five years. That’s also why we want to let ourselves dream again and be creative again. We’re going to go a bit crazy.”
In the same interview, Broche also reiterated how he doesn’t want the studio to get too big. Noting that there are around 26 employees at Sandfall Interactive right now, Broche spoke about how this means that there are “more than enough people for the pre-production of our next project and the things we want to accomplish.” However, he also said that the limitations of a smaller headcount are good for the team.
“When you have more money, it’s very easy to just bring a lot of people and say ‘We need to make it bigger and bigger!’ and ‘We’re going to fix every single little pain point we had in Expedition 33.’ But I think that’s a big mistake because limitations are what breed creativity. If we know we can’t do everything, we have to focus on what matters, and I think that philosophy is what made Expedition 33 what it is. It feels very focused; everything has a purpose, and everything is made for a reason. It doesn’t feel like something too big for its own good.”
“That’s why we want to stay small, keep a very strong creative vision, and make sure that everything we produce has a real reason to be.”
Previously, Broche had said that he would also be fine if the studio’s next game wasn’t as successful as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. “I don’t really care,” he said. “It’s weird to say, but we didn’t make the first game to please anyone. And I think that’s why it worked.”
“Whether people follow us or not is their decision. But that’s how we see the future.”
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S last year, and has since seen plenty of critical and commercial success. Along with winning several awards, the title has also managed to sell 8 million copies as of April this year. The milestone also happened to coincide with the game’s first anniversary, which saw the release of a free update with additional hairstyles.
