168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a triumph, and has ♛rightfully become one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful games of the 2020s. Considering it’s the first game from fledgling developer Sandfall Interactive, that’s𒐪 quite an achievement for this small team.

During its marketing beats ahead of release, and discourse spread online by curious players, a big deal was made about the small size of the development team, consists of a core team of only 30 people. That’s an incredibly small number for such a bold and ambitious game that looks, sounds, and feels this good to play. Many are wondering how this feat was even possible, ♛or if there is more to the story than 30 passionate creatives putting everything of themselves into this journey. Turns out, there is.

How Many People Actually Worked On Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?

No matter how you slice it, the number of people who helped bring Clair Obscur to life is far lower than the average production from Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, or Naughty Dog - The Last of Us Part 2’s total team had over 2,000 members. Individuals were trusted with bringing specific mechanics, narrative beats, and ideas to life while having the autonomy to work alone or together to ensure things were the🐎 best they could be.

But if you take even a cursory glimpse at the , you’ll notice that far more than 30 people are listed as playing a part in the game’s creation; ranging from voice actors to external QA testers and international partners for the art and animati𝓀on, which evidently aren’t a part of the small number we’ve seen floating around online.

Gustave reaching out to catch a pettle in front of maelle in clair obscur.

However, this is the reality of creating any video game of this scale in the modern era, and even 🔯small developers are going to make use of external agencies and contractors to help make the act of reaching the finish line that much easier. Sometimes it comes down to QA testing that takes away from time better spent elsewhere by the team, or localisation efforts they don’t have either the expertise or resources to do justice.

Another example that comes to mind is Supergiant Games who, during the early access development of Hades 2 recruited Spencer Wan to help out with certain animations while also working alongside his own 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Studio Grackle to create its animated reveal trailer. Within disciplines like this, you will naturally have fingers in m🔯any pies.

The Size Of Clair Obscur’s Development Team Doesn’t Really Matter

Four people standing on a cliff looking at each other in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Besides, even if the use of external agencies and partners brings the total number of people who worked on Clair Obscur closer to triple digits, that doesn’t take away from the meaning at its core. A new studio made up of creative talent fro🌸m other studios wanted to make something incredible without the corporate pressure that once held them down. These terms alone are enough to label this game as an intimate success regardless of how many people were involved in its execution. It’s not about the size of the team, but w🌱hat the final product represents in the wider landscape.

There is a constant debate in gaming about what actually constitutes a ‘developer’ - do the PR team qualify? Did the QAꦜ department actively ‘make’ the game? What about the acting talent? - which makes it hard to quantify who ‘made’ Clair Obscur and who simply ‘worked’ on it. What’s clear is that while far more t༺han 30 people contributed to Clair Obscur existing, the overall number, whatever categories you include, points to a title punching well above its weight, and a core team of this size seeing this success on the first go around, or even at all, is near unheard of.

It’s also worth praising the fact that Clair Obscur: Expedition seemingly makes a♋ point of crediting everyone involved with the development process, external partners included.

Predictable comparisons have been made to Larian Studios and Ba♍ldur’s Gate 3, and how leaving talented developers to their own devices will naturally end up producing magic. I’m not sure this unfettered freedom is the case each and every time, but over the past several years it has been the case often enough that I’m inclined to believe it.

character fighting a monster in clair obscur: expedition 33.
via Sandfall Interactive

Both were brought to life by relatively small teams and represent a sense of heart and ambition we seldom see in other triple-A productions. This should be the way forward for video games, but with twisted ꦐcapitalist interests always at the forefront, success leakin꧅g through the cracks is hard.

We shouldn’t be scrutinising the actual size of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s dev team as a sort of wool being pulled over our eyes, but using it as a learning experience about how the sausage is made behind the scenes, and that few games of this magnitude are possible without outside help. Besides, the core team that conjured up the game and its core character🧸s and concepts remain the same, and without them this masterpiece wouldn’t exis🤡t at all.

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Your Rating

168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Turn-Based RPG
Fantasy
Systems
Released
April 24, 2025
ESRB
♚ Matur🦩e 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Developer(s)
🔯 Sandfall Interactive
Publisher(s)
𝓰 🦄 Kepler Interactive

WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL