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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year contender, but also an enormous sales triumph. Studio the development team along with publisher their publishing partner revealed that this title exceeded five million copies in sales, this is even with its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success was a shock to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a solid title achieving reasonable sales results,” a key executive explained.

Another leading developer noted that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, now standing at 93, came as the greatest surprise” to the team compared to “our initial expectations and the actual outcome turned out to be. Once it was published everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. It was really frantic.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing a free update for the title including novel settings, adversaries, plus epic encounters, reportedly is coming sometime soon.

That said, despite the game's evolution, it's unlikely they'll hire extensively. Our team includes an excellent group guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for this game and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the close-knit size that led to our success then develop large projects one by one,” the executive noted.

Their team size generated plenty of debate following launch. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, looked at Sandfall’s team as the model for a studio. Although the team is and was truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, a quick look at the title's staff list indicates numerous contributors participated; the French studio hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, for example.

“We will hire slightly more certainly when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the producer stated. “Yet I picture more of a workshop with a small number of really talented people that can make collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that the studio's philosophy as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, efforts were made — they are certain their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer said. “It's a bit too early to specify our next interests, but it's important also to remain faithful to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

They mentioned how this game originated from the creative director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that philosophy we will be able to do as well for future productions.”