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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year contender, it’s also a huge financial hit. Studio the development team and publisher Kepler Interactive announced that this title surpassed 5 million units sold, and that’s in spite of it being a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

This achievement was an unexpected turn to the developers. I was convinced that we would have a solid title that would meet reasonable market performance,” a key executive stated.

The CTO and lead programmer noted the game's Metacritic rating, rated 93 by critics, was the greatest surprise” to the team compared to “our initial expectations and what the reality proved to be. When the score released all staff members were cheering loudly. It was really frantic.”

The positive reception has led to work on a free update for players including novel settings, foes, along with challenging bosses, as announced is coming in the next few months.

That said, despite the game's evolution, don’t expect the team will expand. Our team includes a talented crew with a strong creative director possessing strong ideas for the project and future concepts. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that worked for this game and do maybe major titles sequentially,” the producer said.

The studio's scale drummed up significant conversation following launch. Some developers, including renowned designers, considered Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. Although the team is and was relatively lean next to major studios, checking Expedition 33’s credits reveals dozens of people were involved; Sandfall contracted a Korean team handling movement and effects, for example.

“We plan to recruit slightly more certainly when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the producer stated. “But I would see more of a workshop of a few exceptionally gifted creators that can make a work of art together.” He noted that their core belief as developers “aims to keep the strengths that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Despite being not the right time to disclose concrete plans about future projects — rest assured, efforts were made — the developers understand their essential identity. “Turn-based gameplay, forms the foundation of our creations,” they said. “It's still premature to specify what will interest us, but it's important also to stay true to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

They added how this game began with their director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that philosophy we will be able to do as well for future productions.”