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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong Game of the Year candidate, it’s also an enormous financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that the game exceeded five million copies sold, and that’s even with its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as quite an unexpected turn for the team. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a good game achieving reasonable commercial success,” a key executive commented.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out this title's Metacritic rating, 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. Because when it dropped the entire team was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

This triumph prompted the studio creating a free update for the title including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

However, as the title expands, don’t expect the studio to grow. Our team includes a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project plus upcoming innovations. Our goal is to maintain the human scale that made this possible and do maybe major titles sequentially,” they added.

The size of Sandfall sparked a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for a studio. Although the team is and was indeed a small team next to major studios, checking the game's credits reveals dozens of people were involved; Sandfall contracted a Korean team handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“We will hire a little more certainly should there be an increase in development down the line,” the executive said. “Yet I picture more of a workshop of a few really talented people that can make collective masterpieces.” He noted that their core belief as developers “aims to keep the key advantages that made this achievement possible from the start.”

While it may be premature for the studio to disclose concrete plans about future projects — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of our creations,” they explained. “It's still premature to be able to tell what will interest us, however, it's crucial to stay true to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer mentioned how this game originated from the visionary pursuing his ideal project. We aspire that's something we can continue with upcoming games.”