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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY contender, it’s also an enormous commercial success. Developer the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that the game surpassed five million copies in sales, this is even with its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as quite a shock to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience garnering some average sales results,” the COO and producer explained.

Another leading developer remarked that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, was the greatest surprise” for everyone versus “our initial expectations and the actual outcome turned out to be. When the score released all staff members was screaming and jumping. The energy was electric.”

That success prompted the studio creating new free content for the game with a new environment, foes, plus epic encounters, reportedly will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, while the game is growing, it's unlikely the studio to grow. We've built a talented crew guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for our work and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the human scale that led to our success and do maybe major titles sequentially,” they noted.

The size of Sandfall generated a storm of discussion following launch. Some developers, like Hideo Kojima, viewed the development group as the “ideal” for a studio. Despite being truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the game's credits reveals numerous contributors participated; Sandfall hired a team in Korea to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“We plan to recruit slightly more definitely if we have a future production surge down the line,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio of a few highly skilled individuals that create a work of art together.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as a company “is more to maintain the key advantages 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 what we built,” a developer said. “It's still premature to be able to tell what will interest us, but it's important also to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

The lead programmer noted how this game began with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. And hopefully that philosophy we will be able to do with upcoming games.”