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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong Game of the Year contender, but also a huge financial hit. Studio the development team and publisher their publishing partner announced that the game topped five million copies sold, and that’s even with it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement was an unexpected turn to Sandfall. I was convinced that we would have a good game achieving reasonable market performance,” the COO and producer explained.

Another leading developer remarked that Clair Obscur’s critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the studio compared to “our initial expectations and the final result proved to be. When the score released all staff members was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

This triumph prompted Sandfall developing a complimentary expansion for the game with a new environment, foes, and boss fights, as announced will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. Our team includes a great team guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for this game and future concepts. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that worked for this game and do maybe large projects one by one,” the executive said.

Their team size sparked a storm of discussion when the game came out. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, looked at Sandfall’s team as the “ideal” for game development. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the game's credits reveals numerous contributors participated; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more certainly when facing an increase in development down the line,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio of a few really talented people capable of producing collective masterpieces.” He noted that the studio's philosophy as a studio “focuses on preserving the key advantages that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Despite being not the right time to reveal exact details what’s next — and trust me, efforts were made — the team does know what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of our creations,” they explained. “The timing isn't right to specify future passions, yet we must to stay true to our creative core through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

They noted that the project originated from their director developing his passion title. We aspire that philosophy we will be able to do as well for future productions.”