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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong Game of the Year candidate, it’s also a massive sales triumph. Developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner revealed that this title exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s even with it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

Its success came as an unexpected turn for the team. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience garnering reasonable sales results,” a senior team member commented.

Another leading developer remarked that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, was “maybe the biggest shock to the team versus our early predictions and what the reality turned out to be. Once it was published everybody in the studio celebrated excitedly. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception resulted in Sandfall developing a complimentary expansion for players including novel settings, enemies, and boss fights, as announced would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, it's unlikely the studio to grow. We've built a talented crew guided by a visionary director possessing strong ideas for the project and future concepts. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that made this possible and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the executive said.

Their team size sparked a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, like Hideo Kojima, considered the development group as the “ideal” for a studio. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean versus large developers, a quick look at the game's credits shows that dozens of people worked on it; the French studio contracted a Korean team for animation work, for example.

“We plan to recruit a bit more for sure should there be an increase in development in upcoming years,” the executive said. “Yet I picture more of a workshop with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that can make a work of art together.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as developers “aims to keep the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details about future projects — rest assured, efforts were made — the developers understand what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of our creations,” the lead programmer remarked. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, however, it's crucial to stay true to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The developer added that the project began with the creative director pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that's something we will be able to do as well for future productions.”