Sandfall Interactive’s core team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was described by the developers as fewer than 30 people or about 30—not as a verified count of every contributor. The studio’s work was split between Montpellier and Paris, and a later 2026 interview put Sandfall’s then-current staff at 26, a separate snapshot rather than a full-development headcount.
How many people made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
The most defensible answer is that Sandfall’s core team was around 30. CTO Tom Guillermin described it as fewer than 30, with approximately 25 people in Montpellier and five in Paris. Creative director Guillaume Broche separately called it “about 30” in an official Xbox interview. Those are approximate, compatible descriptions—not an audited total of everyone who contributed.
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The distinction matters: a studio’s core team is not necessarily the same thing as the complete production workforce or the game’s full list of credited contributors. The interviews establish Sandfall’s approximate core-team scale, but do not establish an exact total for all people involved.
What do the different team-size figures mean?
| Figure | Speaker and context | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than 30; around 25 in Montpellier and five in Paris | Tom Guillermin, Sandfall CTO, in an Unreal Engine development interview | An approximate core-team estimate and office split; not a complete contributor census. |
| About 30 | Guillaume Broche, creative director, in an official Xbox interview during development | A second rounded description of the core team, not a conflicting precise count. |
| 26 people “at the moment” | Guillaume Broche in an Automaton West interview published July 29, 2026 | Sandfall’s staff at the time of that interview, while discussing pre-production on its next project—not the Expedition 33 team across its full development. |
The estimates differ in wording, timing, and scope. “Fewer than 30” and “about 30” both signal a small team without pinning down a precise number. The 26-person figure is later and refers to the studio at that interview, when staffing was adapting to project phase.
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- Reactive Turn-based Combat: Craft unique builds for your Expeditioners that fit your playstyle via gear, stats, skills, and &character synergies
- Dodge, parry, and counter in real time, chain combos by mastering attack rhythms, and target enemy weak points using a free aim system
- With only one year left to live, join Gustave, Maelle, & fellow Expeditioners as they embark on a desperate quest to break Paintress’ cycle of death
- Explore an enchanting realm populated by adversaries; Wander through breathtaking landscapes, from Island of Visages to the Forgotten Battlefield
- Experience the debut game from Sandfall Interactive, fully realized in Unreal Engine 5 with stunning graphics and a heartbreaking soundtrack
Where was the team based?
Guillermin’s approximate breakdown placed around 25 people in Montpellier and five in Paris. Broche also described the team as mostly based in Montpellier, with a small Paris group working on cinematics. The figures are rounded interview descriptions, not an independently verified headcount by office or discipline.
How did Sandfall grow into a studio?
Broche said Expedition 33 began as a solo passion project while he was working at another game company. He brought in programmer Tom Guillermin and artist Nicholas Maxson-Francombe for help. The group eventually left their jobs and founded Sandfall Interactive in 2020. Sandfall identifies Expedition 33 as its first game.
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- Reactive Turn-based Combat - In this evolution of JRPGs, real-time actions enhance the heart of turn-based combat. Build your party and level up six characters. Craft unique builds for your expeditioners that fit your playstyle via gear, stats, skills, and character synergies. Open an active dimension in combat - dodge, parry, and counter in real time, chain combos by mastering attack rhythms, and target enemy weak points using a free-aim system.
- “Tomorrow Comes” - With only one year left to live, join Gustave, Maelle, and their fellow Expeditioners as they embark upon a desperate quest to break the Paintress’ cycle of death. Follow the trail of previous expeditions and discover their fate. Get to know the members of Expedition 33 as they learn to work together against impossible odds.
- A Hauntingly Beautiful World - Explore an enchanting realm populated by surreal adversaries. Wander through breathtaking landscapes, from the Island of Visages to the Forgotten Battlefield, discovering secrets and hidden quests along the way. Find allies of fortune in creatures of legend and recruit a special companion who can access new travel methods and secret areas in the World Map.
- Experience the debut game from Sandfall Interactive, fully realized in Unreal Engine 5 with stunning graphics and a heartbreaking soundtrack.
- European/ UK version
The game is a single-player, turn-based RPG drawing on fantasy and European Belle Époque influences, published by Kepler Interactive for PC and new-generation consoles. That broad creative and technical scope helps explain why “small team” should not be mistaken for “one kind of work”: the studio’s official team page lists roles across disciplines, although it is not a definitive historical roster of everyone who worked on the game.
What did the developers say helped a small team?
Guillermin credited Unreal Engine’s visual Blueprint scripting with helping the team work across disciplines. He said non-programmers could understand, change, and polish gameplay logic, and that even features made entirely by programmers ended up using Blueprints for core logic. That is the CTO’s account of the studio’s workflow, not a measured claim that one tool explains the game’s success.
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In a later Unreal Engine interview, Guillermin also described level sequences as a shared workspace where designers, visual-effects artists, and sound designers could coordinate. He said the environment team ranged from three to five people depending on the development phase, and credited World Partition and Nanite with workflow benefits. These are his descriptions of how Sandfall worked, rather than independent measurements of productivity.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Does “made by about 30 people” mean only 30 people contributed?
No. It is a reasonable shorthand for the approximate size of Sandfall’s core team, but it should not be presented as the confirmed total number of people who contributed to the finished game. The available interviews do not provide an independently audited, full-production contributor count.
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- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a ground-breaking turn-based RPG with unique real-time mechanics, making battles more immersive and addictive than ever.
- Explore a fantasy world inspired by Belle Époque France in which you battle devastating enemies.
Broche’s later comments also framed limits as part of the studio’s creative approach. In the July 2026 Automaton West interview, he argued that adding people and expanding scope to fix every pain point would be a mistake, saying that “limitations are what breeds creativity.” That reflects his view of the next project’s pre-production, not a retrospective claim that the Expedition 33 team never changed size.
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Sources
- Unreal Engine interview with CTO Tom Guillermin
- Official Xbox interview with Guillaume Broche and Nicholas Maxson-Francombe
- Automaton West interview with Guillaume Broche, published July 29, 2026
- Sandfall Interactive official site
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