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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top Game of the Year candidate, it’s also a massive commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner announced that this title topped five million copies in sales, this is even with its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance was an unexpected turn to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet moderate commercial success,” a senior team member stated.

Another leading developer noted the game's critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” to the team versus our early predictions and what the reality turned out to be. Because when it dropped the entire team celebrated excitedly. The energy was electric.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing new free content for players with a new environment, foes, along with challenging bosses, reportedly is coming sometime soon.

However, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. “We have an excellent group guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for our work and also for new ideas. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that made this possible then develop major titles sequentially,” the producer said.

Their team size generated plenty of debate upon the title's release. Some developers, including renowned designers, considered this studio as the “ideal” for game development. Despite being relatively lean versus large developers, one glance at the title's staff list shows that many individuals were involved; Sandfall contracted a Korean team for animation work, as an instance.

“We will hire a little more definitely should there be next an upcoming production peak down the line,” they commented. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that their core belief as developers “is more to maintain the key advantages that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Despite being too early for Sandfall to say specifically regarding upcoming titles — rest assured, efforts were made — the team does know what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of our creations,” a developer remarked. “It's a bit too early to specify future passions, however, it's crucial to adhere to our studio's essence featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

The lead programmer noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the creative director “work[ing] on his dream game. We aspire that's something we can continue with upcoming games.”