Expedition 33 developer Sandfall Interactive was formed after the game's director was bored at his job at Ubisoft. He started recruiting on social media to create Expedition 33. He found the lead writer on Reddit and the composer on Soundcloud.

Game director Guillaume Broche detailed how the project wouldn’t have been feasible at a bigger studio in an interview with Pouce Cafe.

Expedition 33’s director is of the opinion that the game would have taken over two decades to get the green light had he pitched it to an AAA studio.