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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY contender, it’s also a huge sales triumph. Developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner announced that this title exceeded five million copies in sales, this is even with it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as an unexpected turn to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we would have a solid title garnering moderate market performance,” the COO and producer commented.

A technical director remarked the game's critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock to the team relative to our early predictions and the actual outcome turned out to be. When the score released the entire team celebrated excitedly. It was really frantic.”

This triumph resulted in the studio creating new free content for players featuring fresh areas, enemies, plus epic encounters, reportedly is coming in the next few months.

However, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate they'll hire extensively. “We have a talented crew with a strong creative director possessing strong ideas for the project and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the close-knit size that led to our success and perhaps create one big game after another,” the producer added.

The size of Sandfall generated significant conversation following launch. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, considered this studio as a perfect example for game development. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the game's credits shows that many individuals were involved; Sandfall contracted a Korean team for animation work, as an instance.

“We will hire slightly more definitely when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” they stated. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio comprising a handful really talented people that can make artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that their core belief as a studio “is more to maintain the key advantages that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans regarding upcoming titles — believe me, I attempted to learn more — they are certain their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” a developer said. “It's still premature to be able to tell our next interests, yet we must to stay true to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with the creative director “work[ing] on his dream game. It is hoped that's something we can continue as well for future productions.”