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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive Game of the Year contender, it’s also an enormous financial hit. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title surpassed five million copies sold, and that’s despite it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as a shock to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience achieving some average market performance,” the COO and producer commented.

Another leading developer noted that Clair Obscur’s critical score, rated 93 by critics, was “maybe the biggest shock for everyone relative to what we anticipated and what the reality turned out to be. Once it was published everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing a free update for the game including novel settings, adversaries, along with challenging bosses, reportedly would be out sometime soon.

However, despite the game's evolution, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. We've built an excellent group under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for our work and future concepts. We intend to preserve the human scale that worked for this game then develop one big game after another,” the producer said.

The studio's scale sparked significant conversation upon the title's release. Some developers, like Hideo Kojima, considered this studio as the “ideal” for a studio. Although the team is and was indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the title's staff list indicates many individuals were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“Some hiring will occur a bit more certainly if we have next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the executive stated. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio comprising a handful highly skilled individuals that can make artistic collaborations.” He noted that their core belief as a studio “aims to keep the successful elements that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to say specifically about future projects — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — the team does know what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, is integral to our identity of this project,” the lead programmer explained. “It's still premature to specify our next interests, however, it's crucial to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that drives our passion.”

The developer noted that the project began with their director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that philosophy will be repeated with upcoming games.”