„I would not be able to live without AAA titles.” Josef Fares doesn’t want Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to set a new trend, because „you can’t do GTA for $10 million”

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Josef Fares, who founded Hazelight Studios – the team behind popular co-op games like A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Split Fiction – recently spoke with The Game Business. He shared his thoughts on how the huge success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 might influence the future of the gaming industry.

“You can’t do GTA for $10 million”

Sandfall Interactive’s game is considered an ‘AA’ title, meaning it was made by a small team of around 30 developers with a budget of just under $10 million. Rami Ismail (Fares) worries that larger game companies might start making similar, smaller-scale, and less expensive games, but he doesn’t believe that’s a desirable outcome.

With games like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 proving popular, there’s a lot of talk about smaller, independent games becoming dominant. However, I still need those big-budget, blockbuster titles in my life. You simply can’t create a game like GTA with a budget of only $10 million.

Michael Patcher, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, previously predicted that the development of GTA 6 cost around $1.5 billion. That’s a significantly larger budget than the game Clair Obscur, but players are optimistic that GTA 6 will be a much more impressive experience. Red Dead Redemption 2, released over seven years ago, still boasts one of the most detailed and immersive open worlds available, and fans expect a similar level of quality. While GTA 6 is almost certain to far outsell Clair Obscur – which had already surpassed 5 million copies sold by October 2025 – its overall quality remains to be seen.

AAA games don’t have to mean a lack of innovation

Let’s return to Josef Fares – what solution does he propose? Simple: avoid extremes.

I’m worried publishers won’t learn the right lessons from successful games like Expedition. They might see its success and think making similar, mid-budget games – often called ‘AA’ – is the easy path forward. But that’s not true. We’ve already seen a lot of those types of games released this year that didn’t get much attention, so it’s important to remember that simply making a mid-budget game isn’t a guarantee of success.

Fares understands that large budgets can actually limit creativity in game development, often leading studios to play it safe with familiar ideas. However, he also pointed to examples of development teams that have successfully blended big budgets with innovative and imaginative gameplay.

I think developers like Naughty Dog, Rockstar, and often Nintendo are proving that big-budget games can still be innovative. Once a game’s budget exceeds $100 million, however, the pressure increases, and people naturally become more cautious—it’s understandable when so much money is at stake. But there’s evidence that taking creative risks can still pay off, even with a large investment.

Great sales of It Takes Two

Josef Fares recently revealed that It Takes Two has sold an impressive 27 million copies. The 2021 Game of the Year was made by a small team with a modest budget – likely under $10 million – and has become a huge success, much like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

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2026-01-14 14:37