Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Cost Its Developers Less Than $10 Million
Do we need any more proof that AAA studios' bloated spending is pointless?
Back in May, the creators of the year's most acclaimed release and leading Game of the Year contender, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, said that Mirror's Edge and Vanquish – titles from 2008 and 2010, mind you – likely cost more to make than their own game, strongly hinting that Clair Obscur was incredibly cheap without giving any concrete numbers.
Half a year later, we finally have a number to attach to that claim, and it shows that the game wasn't just jaw-droppingly cheap – it didn't even break eight figures, defying every projection and prediction about what its real budget might've been.
Sandfall
In an interview with the NY Times, Sandfall revealed that the game's budget – presumably covering the development and marketing both – was less than $10 million. This undeniably extraordinary achievement was made possible by the studio "avoiding the open-world trend," Sandfall noted, adding that they expect more games like Expedition 33 – i.e., a small team, a relatively low budget, a fantastic result – to follow.
"We have the tech now to make those games with a relatively small team," commented Sandfall's Creative Director and CEO Guillaume Broche. "Games like this are coming. We are lucky to be early."
To put that number into perspective, here are the budgets of some of the recent AAA releases from the past few years, including both confirmed figures and estimates:
- Borderlands 4: Around $280-300 million;
- Assassin's Creed Shadows: Over €100 million;
- Skull and Bones: At least $200 million, up to $850 million;
- Concord: $200-$400 million;
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: $118 million;
- Star Wars Outlaws: Estimated to be between $200 and $300 million;
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7: $450-700 million;
- MindsEye: Rumored to be around $500 million.
And to make our round of quick math even more thrilling, the latest report shows Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had sold 5 million copies by October 8 – a little over two months ago – which, at $50 a unit minus the assumed 30% distribution fee, nets the developer and publisher $175 million, covering the game's cost more than 17 times.
To quote Owen Mahoney, Nexon's former CEO, "I think that the AAA industry is structurally at its end. And without a serious rewrite of the ways we go about making games, it's going to end in more disaster than it has already." Comparing the budget of Clair Obscur with that of the AAA games listed above, it becomes clear as day what Mahoney meant.
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