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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY candidate, but also a massive financial hit. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game topped five million copies sold, this is despite its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as quite a shock to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience garnering moderate sales results,” a senior team member stated.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked this title's critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the team compared to what we anticipated and what the reality of the field was. Once it was published the entire team were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception resulted in Sandfall developing a free update for the game including novel settings, foes, plus epic encounters, reportedly will release sometime soon.

However, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. We've built a talented crew under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for this game plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the human scale that led to our success then develop large projects one by one,” the producer added.

Their team size sparked significant conversation following launch. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, considered this studio as the “ideal” for a studio. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the title's staff list indicates many individuals were involved; the French studio hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“We plan to recruit a little more definitely should there be a future production surge down the line,” they commented. “Yet I picture more of a workshop with a small number of highly skilled individuals that create a work of art together.” He noted that their core belief as a company “focuses on preserving the key advantages that enabled this success originally.”

Despite being premature for the studio to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, efforts were made — the team does know their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” the lead programmer said. “The timing isn't right to specify future passions, yet we must to remain faithful to our studio's essence featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The lead programmer noted that the project started with their director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that's something we will be able to do with upcoming games.”