The studio behind one of the most decorated games in awards history says it has no plans to chase its own success. In a recent interview with Video Game Club on the Konbini YouTube channel, Sandfall Interactive co-founder and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 director Guillaume Broche said the studio's next project will follow exactly the same creative instincts as its debut - regardless of outcome.
"I don't really care," Broche said when asked about the possibility of the next game flopping. "We didn't make the first game to please anyone. And I think that's why it worked."
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Creative freedom over commercial pressure
Broche acknowledged that the studio's follow-up may involve bold choices that divide players. The team could make "some drastic decisions too, and maybe people won't like it. That's life." He described this mindset as a healthier way for developers to approach new projects, warning against getting "crushed under the pressure" of living up to a previous release.
That said, Broche remains grounded. "Of course, if we sell zero copies, we'll still have problems. But normally, it'll be fine," he said.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is available now from €6.18 via the price comparison table above.
Small team, no plans to scale up
These comments echo a position Broche has held since before Expedition 33 launched. In a December interview, he reaffirmed that the studio's goal has always been to "make games that are really honest and true, and write stories that move people." He added: "What we want to do is exactly what we wanted to do when we started the game."
Sandfall has no current plans to grow its headcount significantly. "We don't want to grow too much as a company," Broche said. "We work well as we are now, as a small team, and we want to stay like that."
That philosophy dates back to development itself. In May 2025, Broche noted that Expedition 33 would have taken far longer inside a large publisher structure, where new IPs with "original stories, completely original characters" face steep internal approval hurdles.
Why the stakes are higher than they look
The comments arrive at a charged moment for the industry. Sony announced on July 1, 2026 that "physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028." The move was highly unpopular on social media, with thousands commenting and many more sharing screenshots of them canceling their PS Plus subscriptions.
That announcement has renewed attention on a 2021 social media post by Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima, who warned: "Eventually, even digital data will no longer be owned by individuals on their own initiative. Whenever there is a major change or accident in the world, in a country, in a government, in an idea, in a trend, access to it may suddenly be cut off. We will not be able to freely access the movies, books, and music that we have loved. I would be a have-not. That's what I'm afraid of. This is not greed."
Kojima himself is responsible for one of the starkest reminders of what happens when a publisher fully cuts support for a digital game: PT, the playable teaser for Silent Hills, was delisted from the PlayStation Store after Konami cancelled the project - and Konami even prohibited users who had already played it from redownloading it.
For a studio like Sandfall, which built its entire debut on raw creative instinct rather than market research, the shift to an all-digital landscape raises the same questions that Kojima flagged years ago - not just about preservation, but about who ultimately controls access to the games that "move people."
A record-breaking debut to follow
The pressure Broche is deliberately ignoring is real. Expedition 33 won nine awards including Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2025, the highest number of wins for a single title in the event's history. As of April 2026, the game has sold 8 million units.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was developed by Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive. It released on April 24, 2025 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.
Whatever comes next from Sandfall, Broche's stance is clear: the studio will make what it loves, keep the team lean, and let the chips fall. For a developer that created a genre landmark without trying to please anyone, that might just be the right call.
