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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year candidate, but also a massive financial hit. Studio the development team and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game topped five million copies in sales, this is in spite of it being a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as a shock to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we would have a solid title achieving moderate market performance,” a key executive stated.

Another leading developer noted that Clair Obscur’s critical score, which currently sits at 93, was the greatest surprise” for everyone versus what we anticipated and the final result proved to be. Once it was published the entire team celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception has led to work on a free update for the title including novel settings, adversaries, along with challenging bosses, reportedly will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, as the title expands, don’t expect the studio to grow. Our team includes a great team guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for this game and future concepts. We'd like to keep the close-knit size that worked for this game and do maybe major titles sequentially,” the executive noted.

The studio's scale generated significant conversation upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, looked at this studio as the “ideal” for a studio. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at Expedition 33’s credits reveals numerous contributors were involved; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, for example.

“We plan to recruit a little more definitely when facing an increase in development in upcoming years,” the executive said. “But I would see more of a workshop with a small number of highly skilled individuals that create a work of art together.” They emphasized that their core belief as a company “is more to maintain the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

Although it's premature for the studio to say specifically what’s next — believe me, I tried to get them to — the team does know what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” they said. “The timing isn't right to announce future passions, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer added how this game started with their director developing his passion title. It is hoped this approach will be repeated with upcoming games.”