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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive Game of the Year candidate, it’s also an enormous financial hit. Studio the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title surpassed 5 million units in sales, and that’s despite it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

Its success came as an unexpected turn to the developers. I was convinced that we would have a solid title that would meet moderate sales results,” a senior team member commented.

Another leading developer remarked this title's review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, was “maybe the biggest shock for everyone relative to “our initial expectations and the final result turned out to be. When the score released everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception prompted the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the game including novel settings, foes, and boss fights, reportedly will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, while the game is growing, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project and future concepts. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that led to our success then develop one big game after another,” the executive added.

Their team size sparked plenty of debate upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, viewed this studio as a perfect example for creative teams. Despite being relatively lean next to major studios, a quick look at the game's credits reveals dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall contracted a Korean team for animation work, for example.

“We will hire a little more definitely when facing next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” the producer said. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio with a small number of really talented people capable of producing artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that led to this accomplishment from the start.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — rest assured, I tried to get them to — they are certain their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer said. “It's still premature to specify our next interests, but it's important also to stay true to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The lead programmer noted how this game started with the visionary “work[ing] on his dream game. We aspire that philosophy we can continue in coming projects.”