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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year contender, it’s also a massive financial hit. Developer the development team and publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that the game surpassed five million copies in sales, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as quite a shock for the team. I firmly believed that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet moderate sales results,” a key executive stated.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked that Clair Obscur’s Metacritic rating, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the team versus what we anticipated and the final result of the field was. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing a complimentary expansion for the game featuring fresh areas, adversaries, and boss fights, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

However, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate they'll hire extensively. We've built a great team under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for this game and future concepts. We'd like to keep the human scale that worked for this game then develop large projects one by one,” the executive added.

Their team size generated significant conversation upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, looked at the development group as a perfect example for creative teams. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean next to major studios, checking the title's staff list reveals dozens of people were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“We will hire a little more definitely when facing next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the executive commented. “But I would see rather a creative atelier with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that create artistic collaborations.” It was stated that their core belief as a studio “aims to keep the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

Although it's premature for the studio to say specifically about future projects — rest assured, I tried to get them to — they are certain what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of this project,” the lead programmer said. “It's still premature to be able to tell future passions, however, it's crucial to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer added that the project began with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. We aspire that philosophy we will be able to do in coming projects.”