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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong Game of the Year candidate, it’s also a massive commercial success. Studio the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

This achievement came as a surprise to the developers. I firmly believed that we'd create a good game that would meet moderate sales results,” a senior team member explained.

Another leading developer pointed out that Clair Obscur’s critical score, now standing at 93, was the greatest surprise” to the studio compared to what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. Because when it dropped the entire team celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success resulted in Sandfall developing a free update for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, and boss fights, reportedly will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. “We have an excellent group guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for this game and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the human scale that led to our success and do maybe major titles sequentially,” the producer noted.

The studio's scale drummed up significant conversation when the game came out. Some developers, such as the famed director, viewed Sandfall’s team as the model for creative teams. Although the team is and was truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, a quick look at the title's staff list indicates dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall contracted a Korean team for animation work, to illustrate.

“We plan to recruit a little more certainly if we have an increase in development in the coming years,” the producer said. “But I would see rather a creative atelier comprising a handful highly skilled individuals that create artistic collaborations.” It was stated that the studio's philosophy as developers “focuses on preserving the key advantages that enabled this success from the start.”

Despite being premature for the studio to disclose concrete plans about future projects — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — they are certain what’s at its core. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of our creations,” they said. “It's a bit too early to announce future passions, but it's important also to stay true to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

They noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the visionary pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped this approach we can continue with upcoming games.”