Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director says it could never have been made at a AAA studio

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’s director believes the game would have taken over two decades to be greenlit, had he pitched it to a AAA studio.

Guillaume Broche, creative director and CEO of Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive, discussed the difficulty of pitching a brand-new IP to bigger companies in a YouTube interview with Pouce Cafe.

In the May 1 interview, Broche said, “For this kind of project with a new IP, an original story, original characters, it’s very hard to propose in a bigger company.”

“In those bigger structures, you generally need to prove yourself first and to be well-placed to have any hope of pitching this kind of project,” he continued.

Broche worked at Ubisoft before departing the company to found Sandfall, a position that he previously told the BBC he had grown “bored” with.

Broche recruited what would become Expedition 33’s 30-member development team from disparate locations. The JRPG-inspired title’s composer, Lorien Testard, was recruited after an exchange through streaming service Soundcloud, for example.

“This is the kind of project that, if doable, would have taken me 25 years before being realized, and I don’t have enough patience for that,” Broche said of his decision to move away from AAA game development. “To create a game infused with passion, we needed that ‘bunch of friends’ making a game kind of atmosphere. Having that flexibility and agility is kind of exclusive to indie studios,” he continued.

Considering the post-release acclaim lavished on Expedition 33, Broche’s approach was clearly the right one for him, though he admitted taking the indie route was “not an easy task”, with “very few vacations and nights of sleep for several years.”

Released on April 24, 2025, Sandfall confirmed on April 27 that Expedition 33 had sold more than 1 million copies in three days, taking five years to develop.

Still exploring The Continent to uncover all its secrets in Expedition 33? Check out our build guides for Maelle, Sciel, and Verso to help you make quick work of its toughest encounters.