In an industry where budgets only seem to be ballooning year in and year out, it’s interesting to note games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. While it’s far from an indie effort, outsourcing animation and other work to external studios, many believed the budget to be around $30 million. As it turns out, that’s not even close.
In a new article by The New York Times, Sandfall Interactive revealed that it actually cost less than $10 million to develop the game. By avoiding an open-world approach and relying on an old-school RPG approach with its level design, it managed to conserve resources. It also revealed that the core team increased to its current size after receiving funding from its publisher.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, and despite also being playable on Game Pass, it’s a bona fide success, selling five million copies since launch. That’s not counting the critical acclaim, from sweeping the Golden Joystick Awards to scoring the most nominations at The Game Awards since Baldur’s Gate 3.
