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- Kepler Interactive’s portfolio director, Matt Handrahan, reveals that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 costs less than many old AA titles.
- The game’s modest budget is even less than that of Mirror’s Edge and Vanquish, which are 17- and 14-year-old games, respectively.
- All the unofficial estimations discussing the budget have been much higher than the actual cost.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has stood out as one of the most acclaimed RPGs to launch in recent years. It has been dubbed the perfect ambition of an AA budget with an AAA scope. However, this AA budget is more modest than the analysts have anticipated.
A new interview with Games Industry reveals that Clair Obscur’s budget was less than the unofficial estimations predicted. Kepler Interactive’s portfolio director, Matt Handrahan, refused to reveal the budget but claimed it was even less than Mirror’s Edge and Vanquish.
Why it matters: Clair Obscur: Expedition has shown that highly innovative and well-crafted games are possible with significantly smaller budgets than the big game studios spend.
It’s worth remembering that Mirror’s Edge—technically an AAA game with AA size—and Vanquish are 17 years and 14 years old, respectively. If this is true, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 costs even less than many old AA games.
I would guarantee that if you got 10 people to guess, I think all 10 wouldn’t guess the actual figure. I’m sure Mirror’s Edge and Vanquish cost more, put it that way.
-Matt Handrahan
Even across the AA gaming space, modern development budgets have ballooned exceedingly over the last decade. So, Clair Obscur achieving such a positive sales and rating reception is a massive reminder for the industry.
Director Guillaume Bosche said the secret behind Clair Obscur’s success lies in creating a game that even developers enjoy playing like consumers. Additionally, the studio has teased a sequel, and various ideas are already under consideration.
Do you think Clair Obscur’s low budget confirms that the industry needs to reevaluate how much is spent on games of similar size? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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