Sandfall Interactive, the breakout developer behind the critically acclaimed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, has confirmed it will not at all scale its operations despite the overwhelming commercial and awards seasons successes of the game. After a historic night at The Game Awards, where the studio’s debut title bagged nine awards out of twelve nominations, creative director Guillaume Broche clarifies that pursuing the “bigger is better” industry standard is not at all an option for the team – mentioned in an interview with Edge shared in the Knowledge newsletter. Instead, the French studio plans to remain at its current headcount of about 30 employees who maintain that creative restrictions are very much part of their development.
This decision is a very stark departure from the traditional path taken by indie studios that hit gold. Usually, success of this caliber triggers massive hiring sprees and a foray into the high-pressure AAA development track. However, Broche and lead programmer Tom Guillermin argue that their current size is “ideal” for the kind of art they want to produce. Keeping the team small means that leadership is much more present in the daily crafting of the game instead of isolated from it by admin burdens and corporate management that inevitably starts to kick in with rapid growth.
Much of this studio’s success hinges upon its ability to take risks and make choices that larger, investor-dominated entities might not. According to lead game designer Michel Nohra, the fact that the team is made up mainly of young, inexperienced people gave the project a “freshness” relatively unmarred by industry-established tropes. This light and lean structure enabled the studio to change direction very fluidly and explore the experiments with Belle Époque aesthetics and unique turn-based mechanics that ultimately clinched the game’s identity. In the opinion of Sandfall’s leadership, a larger workforce would weaken that creative shorthand and imbue it with the same sterile “safe” design choices currently dragging the broader AAA market down.
As Sandfall Interactive embarks on the next entry in the Clair Obscur universe, it follows a very clear mandate: Stay small to stay sharp. The studio is banking on their ongoing success being increasingly less dependent on a massive increase in headcount and much more dependent on the maintenance of the intimate hands-on environment that allowed their first project to thrive. Thus, in this day and age, where many studios are failing under budget bloat and over expansion, Sandfall’s refusal to grow might in fact be their smartest move yet.
