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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY candidate, it’s also a massive sales triumph. Studio the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that this title topped 5 million units in sales, and that’s even with it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as quite a surprise to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we'd create an enjoyable experience that would meet reasonable sales results,” a senior team member explained.

A technical director pointed out that Clair Obscur’s critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as “maybe the biggest shock to the studio versus our early predictions and what the reality turned out to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

This triumph prompted work on new free content for players including novel settings, enemies, and boss fights, reportedly is coming in the next few months.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, it's unlikely the team will expand. We've built an excellent group guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for the project and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the human scale that led to our success then develop large projects one by one,” the producer added.

Their team size drummed up a storm of discussion following launch. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, considered the development group as the “ideal” for game development. Despite being truly compact next to major studios, checking the game's credits reveals dozens of people participated; the French studio partnered with overseas animators to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“Some hiring will occur a little more definitely should there be an increase in development in upcoming years,” the producer said. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio of a few really talented people capable of producing artistic collaborations.” It was stated that the studio's philosophy as developers “is more to maintain the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the team does know their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of this project,” they explained. “The timing isn't right to specify what will interest us, yet we must to adhere to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

The developer noted how this game originated from the creative director developing his passion title. It is hoped that's something we can continue with upcoming games.”