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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong Game of the Year contender, it’s also an enormous commercial success. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that the game surpassed 5 million units sold, and that’s despite it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement was a shock to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have a good game that would meet reasonable market performance,” a senior team member stated.

Another leading developer noted the game's Metacritic rating, rated 93 by critics, came as the most surprising moment to the studio compared to “our initial expectations and the final result turned out to be. When the score released all staff members was screaming and jumping. It was really frantic.”

This triumph resulted in Sandfall developing a complimentary expansion for players including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, which they said is coming in the next few months.

That said, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have a great team guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for the project plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that made this possible and perhaps create one big game after another,” the producer said.

The studio's scale drummed up plenty of debate upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, considered Sandfall’s team as the “ideal” for creative teams. Although the team is and was relatively lean next to major studios, checking the game's credits reveals many individuals participated; Sandfall hired a team in Korea for animation work, for example.

“Some hiring will occur a little more for sure when facing next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” the producer said. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio comprising a handful really talented people that create a work of art together.” They emphasized that their core belief as a company “is more to maintain the key advantages that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details about future projects — believe me, efforts were made — they are certain what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer explained. “It's a bit too early to announce future passions, but it's important also to remain faithful to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that drives our passion.”

The lead programmer mentioned how this game originated from the creative director developing his passion title. And hopefully this approach will be repeated as well for future productions.”