Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 star worries the industry will learn the wrong lessons from the J'RPG's success: "Capitalism is unwilling to ask the why because they’re interested in the how"

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr worries that the video game industry will learn the wrong lessons from J'RPG's success.

Sandfall Interactive itself was comprised of around 33 employees during the development of Clair Obscur, but elements of the game were outsourced to other studios, with over 100 people working on the game, but many focused on the core Sandfall employees, with the narrative pushed of "only 30 people worked on the best game of 2025" across social media around the game's launch.

In a panel at Emerald City Comic Con (via Popverse), Starr says, "I think when the opportunistic fingers of capitalism try to take apart this game and its success, I fear they will ask the wrong questions." He explains, "They will ask how it was made. They will ask the how of it all. The 33 people, the environment, what is the how? But the question they should be asking is the why."

Of course, with the narrative of the small development team being pushed, many investors – who let's be frank, often don't know much about video games or their development – could see it as an excuse to speak of downsizing developers, because if Sandfall could do it, why can't they?

Starr continues, "The why is the reason why this is successful, and if you can find the answer to the why, you will be able to replicate the success. And I think capitalism is unwilling to ask the why because they’re interested in the how."

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