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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year candidate, but also a huge financial hit. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner announced that the game topped 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of its status as a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement was a shock to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience garnering moderate sales results,” the COO and producer stated.

Another leading developer noted that Clair Obscur’s Metacritic rating, rated 93 by critics, came as the most surprising moment to the studio compared to what we anticipated and the final result proved to be. When the score released everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing new free content for players including novel settings, foes, and boss fights, reportedly is coming in the next few months.

However, as the title expands, don’t expect the studio to grow. Our team includes a talented crew under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for this game and future concepts. We'd like to keep the human scale that made this possible and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the producer noted.

The studio's scale drummed up a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, viewed the development group as a perfect example for a studio. Although the team is and was relatively lean next to major studios, a quick look at the game's credits shows that numerous contributors worked on it; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators for animation work, to illustrate.

“We will hire a bit more for sure if we have an increase in development in the coming years,” the producer stated. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as a studio “focuses on preserving the successful elements that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

Despite being too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details about future projects — and trust me, efforts were made — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of this project,” they said. “The timing isn't right to specify future passions, yet we must to adhere to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that drives our passion.”

The developer added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with their director pursuing his ideal project. We aspire this approach we will be able to do with upcoming games.”