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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong Game of the Year candidate, it’s also a massive commercial success. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title surpassed five million copies sold, and that’s despite it being a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as a shock to the developers. I was convinced that we'd create a solid title achieving some average commercial success,” a senior team member explained.

A technical director noted the game's Metacritic rating, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock to the team relative to our early predictions and what the reality turned out to be. Because when it dropped the entire team celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success has led to Sandfall developing a free update for the title with a new environment, foes, plus epic encounters, which they said will release sometime soon.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. We've built an excellent group with a strong creative director with a clear direction for the project plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the human scale that worked for this game then develop one big game after another,” the executive added.

Their team size sparked significant conversation following launch. Some developers, like Hideo Kojima, looked at the development group as the model for a studio. Despite being truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the game's credits indicates many individuals participated; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators for animation work, to illustrate.

“We plan to recruit a bit more for sure if we have next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the producer said. “Yet I picture more of a workshop comprising a handful really talented people capable of producing collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that their core belief as a studio “is more to maintain the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

Despite being premature for the studio to reveal exact details what’s next — believe me, I attempted to learn more — the team does know their essential identity. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer explained. “The timing isn't right to be able to tell our next interests, yet we must to stay true to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

The developer added how this game started with the creative director developing his passion title. It is hoped that's something we can continue with upcoming games.”