Sandfall Interactive does not plan to grow significantly after the launch success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, the studio’s creative director Guillaume Broche and lead programmer Tom Guillermin told Edge magazine in issue #419.
Broche said the studio prefers working with creative limits. “No, I think it’s good to have limitations when you are creative,” he said. “It’s the best way to be the best version of yourself. We could scale up now we have a lot more money, but I would say it’s not tempting for us, because even the management team and myself, we’d have to be hands-on and doing things for ourselves. We love making games more than we love managing, so we want to keep doing that. These past five years were some of the best of my life, and I want to be happy like that again.”
Guillermin added that the current team size is part of what makes the studio work. “In terms of team dynamics, everybody knows everybody in the team, and people are used to working together,” he said. “Now we are lucky enough to have a strong foundation from the previous project, but expanding for the sake of expanding is not our vision. Our vision is to ship quality games, and we don’t believe you need to have a lot of people to do that. There are large teams that deliver great games, of course, but for us what works best is pretty much our current size. We don’t want to change the team structure and dynamic.”
The comments underline Sandfall’s preference for a compact, hands-on team even after Expedition 33’s breakthrough. The game has drawn praise for delivering a high level of polish despite the studio’s relatively small roster. Sandfall’s leads framed the decision to stay small as a creative choice rather than a financial one. Broche emphasized retaining the hands-on, day-to-day involvement that the team enjoyed during development. Guillermin emphasised that the existing team dynamic is a deciding factor: expanding could change how the studio operates and who does the core creative work.
The interview can also be read alongside the leads’ remarks about design philosophy, where Broche said focusing on what the team wants to build mattered more than designing specifically for outside expectations. Our earlier coverage of the leads’ comments on JRPG design is available for more context. Maelle’s most infamous attack and its evolution during development were another topic cited in related coverage, showing how Sandfall iterated on systems post-launch. For now Sandfall intends to keep its current structure and keep making games with a small, familiar core team.
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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Developed by Sandfall Interactive
Lead the members of Expedition 33 on their quest to destroy the Paintress so that she can never paint death again. Explore a world of wonders inspired by Belle Époque France and battle unique enemies in this turn-based RPG with real-time mechanics.
- Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
- Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
- Modes: Single player
- Release: 2025-04-24
- Publisher: Kepler Interactive
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Age Rating:
ACB MA 15+ / PEGI 18 / USK 16 / CERO Z / GRAC 19+ / CLASS_IND 18 / ESRB M
- IGDB Rating: 93.1/100
