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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year candidate, but also an enormous commercial success. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner announced that this title surpassed 5 million units in sales, this is in spite of its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success was an unexpected turn for the team. I firmly believed that we would have a good game achieving moderate sales results,” a senior team member explained.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out the game's Metacritic rating, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” to the studio relative to “our initial expectations and what the reality proved to be. When the score released the entire team were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception prompted Sandfall developing a free update for the title including novel settings, foes, and boss fights, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

That said, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have a great team with a strong creative director who has a great vision for the project and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that worked for this game and do maybe large projects one by one,” the executive added.

The studio's scale drummed up significant conversation following launch. A few well-known creators, including renowned designers, viewed the development group as the “ideal” for a studio. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the game's credits reveals numerous contributors were involved; the French studio partnered with overseas animators for animation work, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more for sure when facing a future production surge in the coming years,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture more of a workshop comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that their core belief as a studio “focuses on preserving the strengths that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

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. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of our creations,” a developer explained. “It's a bit too early to be able to tell our next interests, but it's important also to adhere to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

The developer mentioned that the project originated from the visionary developing his passion title. And hopefully this approach we can continue in coming projects.”