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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive Game of the Year candidate, but also a huge commercial success. Developer the development team and publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that the game topped five million copies sold, and that’s in spite of it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as a shock to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create a good game garnering moderate sales results,” a key executive explained.

A technical director remarked that Clair Obscur’s critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as “maybe the biggest shock to the studio versus our early predictions and the actual outcome turned out to be. When the score released all staff members celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception prompted work on a complimentary expansion for the title featuring fresh areas, foes, plus epic encounters, as announced would be out in the next few months.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, it's unlikely the studio to grow. We've built a talented crew guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for the project plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the small-team dynamic that made this possible then develop large projects one by one,” they noted.

The size of Sandfall sparked plenty of debate upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, considered the development group as a perfect example for game development. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the title's staff list shows that numerous contributors participated; Sandfall contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, to illustrate.

“Some hiring will occur a bit more certainly when facing an increase in development in upcoming years,” the executive commented. “But I would see essentially a craft studio with a small number of highly skilled individuals that can make artistic collaborations.” He noted that the studio's philosophy as a company “focuses on preserving the strengths that made this achievement possible originally.”

Although it's premature for the studio to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — believe me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of this project,” the lead programmer said. “It's a bit too early to announce our next interests, however, it's crucial to adhere to our creative core through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

They noted how this game started with the visionary developing his passion title. It is hoped that's something we can continue as well for future productions.”