Can’t we also consider Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a new industry standard?

Obviously, this title is ironic, it refers to the statement made by Xalavier Nelson, creative director at Strange Scaffold, who once said that Baldur’s Gate 3 shouldn't be considered the industry standard.

His comment was not well received by the gaming community. After all, how come major studios can’t deliver a product as good as one developed by a company that only recently rose to the level of a big studio? Nelson’s words came off as an excuse for the mediocre games we've been getting lately. However, his intention was to highlight the “advantages” Larian Studios had during the development of BG3 - like extended development time, less pressure from a publisher, and so on.While I understand his position, I can’t bring myself to agree with it. It's precisely by demanding better products that the industry is pushed to change - even if that means rethinking how games are currently made.

If I could ask this director a question today, it would be: “Do you also believe that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 shouldn’t be used as a benchmark for quality?”I think the answer - regardless of what it is - would be embarrassing. After all, Baldur’s Gate 3 is a AAA game made by a company with over 20 years of experience. Meanwhile, Clair Obscur was developed by a team of 33 people, most of them juniors when it comes to game development. At most, Sandfall Interactive could be labeled as an AA studio, and Clair Obscur is their debut title.

Baldur's Gate 3

The idea that a studio this size, with this level of expertise, managed to produce a game that is leagues ahead of many recent AAA titles is, at best, laughable - and at worst, tragic. We can’t normalize the current state of AAA gaming. To see Baldur’s Gate 3 and now Clair Obscur as exceptions is a serious mistake. They should be seen as examples of how games should be made - as beacons lighting the path forward, not as anomalies. In my view, the industry and some studios are interpreting things the wrong way. To bring games back to a place of excellence, the mistakes of today’s market need to be addressed - not dismissed just because something better was "outside the norm."

Perhaps the root cause of this stagnation in big studios lies in the flaws of capitalism. And no, I’m not a communist - or even a socialist - but it’s undeniable that capitalism brings significant problems to many industries, especially the arts. In capitalism, everything is turned into a product. As a result, it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between art and product. The lines are blurry, and often one is mistaken for the other. This inevitably impacts art, the act of creation, and the entire process. Capitalism’s logic - profit as fast as possible - clashes with the nature of artistic work, which is, by essence, slow and arduous.

Games are art - and making art takes time. Time to fail, to redo, to solve inexplicable problems that will arise along the way. Artists also need freedom. If creativity is boxed in to fit a specific model, then innovation dies. After all, you can't make something new when you’re confined to building an open-world campaign game with mandatory RPG elements and action-style combat.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Is the industry facing a creativity crisis? I don’t think so. What I see is a freedom crisis. Game developers today can no longer express their personal experiences in their work - their anxieties, ideas, intentions, and unique traits. Games now must be tailored to sell to the largest audience possible, because the investment was astronomical, right? This gets even worse with franchises that are expected to release a new installment every year - or at most, every two years - like FIFA, Call of Duty, and Assassin’s Creed.

The solution seems simple, but it requires courage: give developers freedom. Freedom to choose models, stories, characters, features, and the narrative itself. A narrative should be designed and built with the intent to create art - not to fulfill the expectations of a particular audience or agenda.

Creating art, even as a group, is a process that requires both creativity and freedom. Without those, it’s impossible to make something truly impactful - something that touches players’ hearts the way Baldur’s Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 did.