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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY contender, but also a huge financial hit. Developer the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title topped 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as a shock to the developers. I firmly believed that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet some average sales results,” the COO and producer explained.

A technical director remarked this title's critical score, which currently sits at 93, was “maybe the biggest shock to the team relative to “our initial expectations and the final result proved to be. Once it was published the entire team were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

This triumph prompted the studio creating a complimentary expansion for players including novel settings, enemies, and boss fights, reportedly will release in the next few months.

Nevertheless, despite the game's evolution, don’t expect the studio to grow. Our team includes a great team under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for the project plus upcoming innovations. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that made this possible then develop major titles sequentially,” the producer said.

Their team size drummed up a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, such as the famed director, viewed the development group as the model for game development. Despite being relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at Expedition 33’s credits shows that numerous contributors participated; Sandfall contracted a Korean team for animation work, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more for sure when facing next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” they said. “Yet I picture more of a workshop comprising a handful highly skilled individuals that can make artistic collaborations.” It was stated that their core belief as developers “focuses on preserving the successful elements that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to say specifically regarding upcoming titles — believe me, I tried to get them to — they are certain what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, forms the foundation of this project,” a developer explained. “It's a bit too early to be able to tell what will interest us, but it's important also to remain faithful to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The developer added that the project began with their director pursuing his ideal project. We aspire that's something will be repeated as well for future productions.”