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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY candidate, but also an enormous financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game surpassed five million copies sold, this is in spite of it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement was a surprise for the team. I was convinced that we would have a solid title that would meet some average sales results,” a senior team member stated.

The CTO and lead programmer noted the game's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, was the most surprising moment for everyone compared to what we anticipated and the actual outcome turned out to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio was screaming and jumping. It was really frantic.”

This triumph resulted in work on new free content for the title featuring fresh areas, enemies, along with challenging bosses, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

However, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. We've built an excellent group guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for our work and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that led to our success then develop large projects one by one,” the producer added.

Their team size drummed up plenty of debate upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, considered this studio as the model for a studio. While Sandfall was and is truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at Expedition 33’s credits indicates numerous contributors worked on it; the French studio hired a team in Korea for animation work, for example.

“We plan to recruit slightly more for sure when facing a future production surge down the line,” the executive stated. “However, I envision more of a workshop with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing a work of art together.” He noted that their core belief as developers “focuses on preserving the successful elements that made this achievement possible originally.”

Although it's premature for the studio to say specifically about future projects — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their essential identity. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” a developer said. “The timing isn't right to announce what will interest us, however, it's crucial to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that drives our passion.”

The developer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. And hopefully that's something we can continue in coming projects.”