"We were a nobody company": Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 studio says it had to hire young because it had no money, but it all turned out ok because new devs "brought fresh ideas"

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's developers have explained that the team being so young was mostly down to the studio's lack of name recognition and money.

Speaking to Edge, the team was asked why so many young staff were hired and how that affected the project. Guillaume Broche, creative director, explains, "Montpellier is a super-young city, first of all," and adds that "pretty much everyone who applied was a junior" or a new graduate. However, Broche isn't saying it as a negative; he adds that "the best portfolios that we got were from juniors."

Broche also explained, "It was also 90 per cent because we were a nobody company, and in general, senior people tend to go for safer options." Michel Nora, lead game designer of Expedition 33, adds that "it's almost impossible to hire any senior people if you don't have the money, which wasn't there at the beginning."

However, the team found that having a younger talent helped development. Nora adds that younger staff "didn't have any expectations about how a studio should be run and how a game should be made, and they brought fresh ideas that were very valuable for the rest of the project," calling it a "good decision" even if it was "by force."

Expedition 33 producer Francois Meurisse is of the opinion that "the good thing was no bad habits from other gaming companies or other games or other past experience. [We were] trying to create something new, and even new skills, from scratch," even if it resulted in the team having to do "twice the work" in his estimation.

Before winning TGA indie awards, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 lead said "we'd rather this category went to a smaller studio."