Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs call Sony's disc phase-out 'a sad decision'

The team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has weighed in on Sony's announcement that it will stop producing physical game discs starting in 2028, and the verdict from Sandfall Interactive is pretty clear: it's a loss worth mourning.

In an interview with Automaton, CEO and creative director Guillaume Broche said he finds the move "super sad" because he genuinely loves video game stores. "We have a lot of people on the team who play on PS5 and love to collect physical discs," he said. "I think it's part of the beauty of art too — that it's something tangible that you can touch. I completely appreciate that people want to have their rows of DVDs and games and just feel that they own them. So I think it's a shame. Business-wise, I can understand why it may make sense, but in terms of the artistry of video games, it's a sad decision." Co-founder and CTO Tom Guillermin added that physical releases are genuinely harder to pull off — more production constraints, less money per unit — but Sandfall pushed for one anyway because "physical was something special" and the team wanted players to be able to hold the game in their hands. Lead character and concept artist Alan Reynaud put it simply: "I like to go outside, buy a game, and come back home with it. It's a nice feeling." Technical artist Alexandre Breton noted that physical copies carry memories in a way digital can't — years later, you can pick up the box and instantly recall everything tied to that game.

Sandfall's attachment to physical media isn't just philosophical. Broche described the moment he saw Expedition 33 on shelves in a Japanese game store as feeling "like a kid" — the game suddenly felt real. Reynaud says even now, spotting their game in a supermarket still makes his day. Sony's decision, announced earlier this month, drew immediate backlash from players, including calls for a boycott. The broader debate around physical media connects to growing concerns about game preservation — as more titles go always-online and storefronts shut down, the ability to own something tangible is increasingly seen as a safeguard against publishers and platforms controlling access indefinitely.

Sandfall hasn't announced any follow-up plans or responded further to the Sony news beyond this interview, but the studio's position is unambiguous. For a team that fought to ship a physical edition of their debut game despite the added cost and complexity, the slow death of the disc is personal.