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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive GOTY candidate, it’s also a massive sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner announced that the game exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s even with its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as a shock to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create a good game garnering some average sales results,” the COO and producer explained.

Another leading developer noted the game's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, came as the greatest surprise” to the studio relative to what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. Because when it dropped all staff members was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success has led to the studio creating a complimentary expansion for players including novel settings, adversaries, plus epic encounters, which they said would be out sometime soon.

However, while the game is growing, it's unlikely the studio to grow. “We have an excellent group under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for the project and also for new ideas. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that worked for this game and perhaps create one big game after another,” the producer noted.

Their team size drummed up plenty of debate upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, looked at this studio as a perfect example for game development. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean next to major studios, one glance at the title's staff list indicates dozens of people participated; the French studio partnered with overseas animators for animation work, as an instance.

“We will hire a bit more for sure if we have a future production surge down the line,” the executive said. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio comprising a handful highly skilled individuals capable of producing collective masterpieces.” It was stated that the studio's philosophy as a studio “aims to keep the successful elements that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Despite being too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans about future projects — and trust me, I tried to get them to — the developers understand what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer explained. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, however, it's crucial to adhere to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds plus innovative play that excites us.”

The lead programmer mentioned that the project originated from the visionary developing his passion title. And hopefully this approach we can continue as well for future productions.”