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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top Game of the Year contender, but also a huge commercial success. Developer the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive announced that the game topped 5 million units in sales, this is despite it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as quite a surprise for the team. I was convinced that we'd create a good game achieving reasonable commercial success,” a key executive explained.

A technical director remarked that Clair Obscur’s critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the team compared to what we anticipated and the final result proved to be. Because when it dropped all staff members were cheering loudly. It was really frantic.”

The positive reception prompted work on a complimentary expansion for the game including novel settings, enemies, along with challenging bosses, as announced is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, despite the game's evolution, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. We've built an excellent group with a strong creative director with a clear direction for this game plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the human scale that made this possible then develop major titles sequentially,” the executive said.

Their team size sparked plenty of debate when the game came out. Some developers, like Hideo Kojima, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team versus large developers, a quick look at the game's credits indicates many individuals participated; the French studio contracted a Korean team for animation work, for example.

“We plan to recruit a little more for sure should there be next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” they commented. “But I would see more of a workshop with a small number of really talented people that can make artistic collaborations.” He noted that the studio's philosophy as a studio “is more to maintain the strengths that led to this accomplishment from the start.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — believe me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, is integral to our identity of our creations,” the lead programmer said. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, but it's important also to remain faithful to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

The lead programmer mentioned that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the visionary pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped this approach we can continue with upcoming games.”