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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year candidate, but also a huge financial hit. Developer the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game exceeded five million copies sold, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance was an unexpected turn for the team. “I was strongly believing that we would have a solid title achieving moderate sales results,” a key executive explained.

Another leading developer remarked the game's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock for everyone compared to our early predictions and the actual outcome of the field was. Once it was published all staff members celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success resulted in work on a free update for the game including novel settings, adversaries, along with challenging bosses, as announced is coming sometime soon.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. Our team includes an excellent group under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for our work plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that made this possible then develop one big game after another,” they said.

Their team size generated plenty of debate when the game came out. Some developers, such as the famed director, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for a studio. Although the team is and was truly compact next to major studios, a quick look at the game's credits reveals many individuals were involved; Sandfall contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“We will hire a little more for sure when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the executive commented. “But I would see rather a creative atelier with a small number of highly skilled individuals capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “focuses on preserving the key advantages that made this achievement possible originally.”

While it may be not the right time to disclose concrete plans about future projects — believe me, efforts were made — they are certain their fundamental principles. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of this project,” the lead programmer remarked. “The timing isn't right to specify what will interest us, but it's important also to stay true to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

The developer mentioned that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from their director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully this approach we will be able to do in coming projects.”