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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top Game of the Year contender, but also a massive commercial success. Developer the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that the game topped 5 million units in sales, and that’s even with it being a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement was a surprise to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have a solid title garnering moderate commercial success,” a key executive explained.

A technical director remarked this title's critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as the most surprising moment to the team relative to what we anticipated and what the reality proved to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

That success resulted in the studio creating a free update for players featuring fresh areas, enemies, and boss fights, which they said would be out sometime soon.

However, as the title expands, it's unlikely the team will expand. We've built an excellent group with a strong creative director who has a great vision for this game plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the human scale that made this possible and perhaps create one big game after another,” the producer said.

Their team size generated a storm of discussion when the game came out. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, considered Sandfall’s team as the “ideal” for game development. Despite being relatively lean versus large developers, one glance at the game's credits reveals dozens of people participated; the French studio contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more certainly should there be a future production surge in upcoming years,” the executive said. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio of a few highly skilled individuals capable of producing artistic collaborations.” He noted that their core belief as a company “aims to keep the strengths that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to disclose concrete plans about future projects — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — they are certain what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, is integral to our identity of this project,” the lead programmer remarked. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, but it's important also to adhere to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

The developer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the creative director “work[ing] on his dream game. And hopefully this approach will be repeated with upcoming games.”