Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 proves that less is more. The game's limited budget helped it achieve great success

Not deep pockets, but limited resources helped make Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 one of the biggest hits of 2025. Guillaume Broche, the Creative Director of the game, recently spoke about this in an interview with Automaton.

According to the developer, the sources of the jRPG's success can be attributed "in some respects" to a moderate budget, which compelled Sandfall Interactive to craft a well-thought-out story and design engaging gameplay. This way, the title provided fans with specific experiences without unnaturally prolonging the fun and wasting their time.

It's pretty obvious that big companies sometimes create massive, budget-heavy worlds just to keep players hooked for as long as possible. They usually do this by filling maps with numerous question marks, which often turn out to be mere "fillers." Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla can be mentioned as an example here (although, in this case, colorful dots appear instead of question marks).

These big AAA games aren't cheap, as Shuhei Yoshida, the former PlayStation CEO, mentioned a few months back. He said that it is necessary to find a balance between development costs and prices acceptable to players. As an example of an ideal balance of these elements, he cited Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Despite the gigantic success of Clair Obscur, which sold over 5 million copies, the studio Sandfall Interactive doesn't plan to abandon the title for now. New content is on its way to the game, including new boss battles.

1. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review: A beautiful tour de force

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

April 24, 2025

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