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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY candidate, it’s also an enormous commercial success. Studio the development team and publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title surpassed five million copies in sales, and that’s even with its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success was an unexpected turn for the team. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet some average commercial success,” a key executive commented.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out the game's review aggregate, now standing at 93, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” to the studio compared to “our initial expectations and the final result proved to be. When the score released all staff members were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success prompted the studio creating new free content for players featuring fresh areas, adversaries, and boss fights, which they said will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, as the title expands, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. “We have an excellent group under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for our work and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the human scale that led to our success and perhaps create one big game after another,” they said.

The studio's scale drummed up plenty of debate following launch. Some developers, including renowned designers, considered Sandfall’s team as the “ideal” for a studio. Although the team is and was indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the title's staff list indicates many individuals participated; the French studio partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“We plan to recruit slightly more for sure when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of really talented people that create a work of art together.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as developers “is more to maintain the strengths that made this achievement possible from the start.”

Although it's not the right time to say specifically about future projects — and trust me, efforts were made — the developers understand what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, forms the foundation of this project,” a developer said. “It's still premature to announce future passions, but it's important also to adhere to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The developer mentioned that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with the creative director developing his passion title. It is hoped that philosophy we can continue with upcoming games.”