00:00Claire Obscure Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr worries that the video game industry will learn
00:05the wrong lessons from the RPG's success. Developer Sandfall Interactive itself was
00:09comprised of around 33 employees during the making of Claire Obscure, but elements of the
00:13game were outsourced to other studios, meaning actually over 100 people actively worked on the
00:18title. But many focused on the core Sandfall employees, with a narrative pushed of only 30
00:23people worked on the best game of 2025 across social media around the game's launch.
00:27In a panel at Emerald City Comic Con, via Popverse, Starr says,
00:31I think when the opportunistic fingers of capitalism try to take apart this game and its success,
00:36I fear they will ask the wrong questions. He explains, they will ask how it was made.
00:40They will ask the how of it all. The 33 people. The environment. What is the how? But the question
00:45they should be asking is the why. Of course, with the narrative of the small development team being
00:49pushed, many investors, who let's be frank, often don't know much about video games or their development,
00:54could see it as an excuse to speak of downsizing developers. Because if Sandfall could do it,
00:59why can't they? Starr continues, the why is the reason why this is successful. And if you can find
01:04the answer to the why, you will be able to replicate the success. And I think capitalism is unwilling to
01:09ask the why, because they're interested in the how.
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