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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY candidate, it’s also a huge financial hit. Studio the development team and publisher Kepler Interactive announced that this title exceeded five million copies in sales, this is even with it being a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

This achievement came as quite a shock to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a good game achieving reasonable market performance,” the COO and producer commented.

A technical director noted this title's critical score, now standing at 93, came as the most surprising moment to the studio relative 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 has led to Sandfall developing new free content for the title including novel settings, adversaries, and boss fights, which they said is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, despite the game's evolution, don’t expect the team will expand. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for the project and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the human scale that worked for this game and do maybe one big game after another,” the executive said.

Their team size generated significant conversation when the game came out. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, considered the development group as the model for creative teams. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the game's credits reveals numerous contributors participated; the French studio contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“We plan to recruit a little more certainly should there be next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that can make a work of art together.” They emphasized that their core belief as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

While it may be not the right time to reveal exact details about future projects — rest assured, I tried to get them to — they are certain their essential identity. “Turn-based gameplay, is integral to our identity of this project,” they explained. “It's a bit too early to specify what will interest us, yet we must to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer noted that the project began with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that philosophy we can continue as well for future productions.”