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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive GOTY candidate, but also a massive financial hit. Developer the development team along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game topped 5 million units sold, this is in spite of its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance was a surprise to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have a good game garnering some average market performance,” a key executive commented.

Another leading developer noted that Clair Obscur’s Metacritic rating, rated 93 by critics, was the greatest surprise” to the studio versus what we anticipated and what the reality of the field was. Because when it dropped the entire team were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success prompted the studio creating new free content for the title including novel settings, enemies, and boss fights, which they said is coming in the next few months.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. We've built a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that led to our success and do maybe one big game after another,” the executive added.

The size of Sandfall sparked a storm of discussion when the game came out. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, viewed the development group as a perfect example for creative teams. Although the team is and was truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, a quick look at the game's credits shows that dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall hired a team in Korea for animation work, for example.

“We will hire slightly more certainly if we have a future production surge in upcoming years,” the producer said. “However, I envision rather a creative atelier comprising a handful highly skilled individuals that can make a work of art together.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as developers “focuses on preserving the successful elements that made this achievement possible from the start.”

Although it's not the right time to disclose concrete plans what’s next — believe me, efforts were made — the developers understand their essential identity. “Turn-based gameplay, is integral to our identity of what we built,” the lead programmer remarked. “The timing isn't right to announce our next interests, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The developer mentioned that the project started with the creative director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that philosophy we can continue with upcoming games.”