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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY contender, but also an enormous sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive announced that the game surpassed 5 million units in sales, this is in spite of it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement was an unexpected turn to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience garnering moderate commercial success,” the COO and producer stated.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked the game's review aggregate, now standing at 93, came as the most surprising moment to the team relative to “our initial expectations and what the reality proved to be. Because when it dropped all staff members were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success resulted in work on a free update for the game featuring fresh areas, adversaries, plus epic encounters, reportedly would be out in the next few months.

That said, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for the project and future concepts. We'd like to keep the small-team dynamic that made this possible and perhaps create one big game after another,” they said.

The size of Sandfall generated plenty of debate upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, considered this studio as the “ideal” for game development. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean versus large developers, a quick look at the game's credits indicates many individuals worked on it; Sandfall hired a team in Korea to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“We will hire a little more definitely should there be next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” the executive stated. “However, I envision more of a workshop with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that can make collective masterpieces.” He noted that their core belief as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that led to this accomplishment from the start.”

While it may be premature for the studio to disclose concrete plans regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, efforts were made — the team does know their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of what we built,” they said. “It's still premature to specify our next interests, yet we must to adhere to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The developer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the visionary pursuing his ideal project. We aspire this approach we will be able to do with upcoming games.”