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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive Game of the Year candidate, it’s also an enormous sales triumph. Developer the development team and publisher their publishing partner announced that the game surpassed 5 million units sold, and that’s in spite of it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement was an unexpected turn for the team. I was convinced that we would have a good game that would meet reasonable commercial success,” the COO and producer stated.

Another leading developer remarked that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock to the team compared to what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. When the score released all staff members were cheering loudly. It was really frantic.”

This triumph prompted work on new free content for players with a new environment, enemies, and boss fights, which they said is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, as the title expands, don’t expect the studio to grow. “We have a great team under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that made this possible then develop large projects one by one,” the executive added.

The studio's scale generated significant conversation upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. Although the team is and was relatively lean versus large developers, a quick look at Expedition 33’s credits indicates many individuals worked on it; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators for animation work, to illustrate.

“Some hiring will occur a bit more certainly when facing an increase in development in upcoming years,” the producer said. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier of a few really talented people capable of producing collective masterpieces.” It was stated that their core belief as developers “is more to maintain the key advantages that enabled this success in the first place.”

Despite being too early for Sandfall to say specifically about future projects — and trust me, efforts were made — they are certain their essential identity. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of our creations,” they remarked. “It's a bit too early to be able to tell future passions, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The developer noted that the project began with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. We aspire that philosophy will be repeated as well for future productions.”