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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong GOTY contender, but also an enormous commercial success. Studio the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that this title topped 5 million units sold, this is despite its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance was an unexpected turn for the team. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a good game garnering moderate sales results,” a key executive stated.

A technical director remarked the game's critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as the greatest surprise” to the studio compared to our early predictions and the actual outcome proved to be. Once it was published all staff members were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

That success resulted in Sandfall developing new free content for the title featuring fresh areas, adversaries, plus epic encounters, which they said is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, despite the game's evolution, it's unlikely they'll hire extensively. Our team includes an excellent group under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that worked for this game then develop major titles sequentially,” the producer added.

Their team size sparked a storm of discussion when the game came out. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, looked at Sandfall’s team as the model for a studio. Despite being indeed a small team next to major studios, one glance at the title's staff list indicates numerous contributors were involved; the French studio hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“Some hiring will occur a little more for sure if we have next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” they commented. “However, I envision more of a workshop of a few highly skilled individuals capable of producing collective masterpieces.” He noted that their core belief as developers “is more to maintain the key advantages that made this achievement possible originally.”

Despite being premature for the studio to disclose concrete plans about future projects — believe me, I attempted to learn more — they are certain their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” the lead programmer explained. “The timing isn't right to be able to tell what will interest us, however, it's crucial to adhere to our creative core through compelling worlds plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with their director developing his passion title. It is hoped that's something we can continue as well for future productions.”