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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year contender, it’s also a massive financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title surpassed five million copies in sales, this is in spite of it being a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as a shock to Sandfall. I was convinced that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet moderate sales results,” a senior team member explained.

A technical director noted that Clair Obscur’s Metacritic rating, which currently sits at 93, came as “maybe the biggest shock to the studio compared to what we anticipated and what the reality proved to be. Once it was published the entire team was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception prompted the studio creating new free content for players with a new environment, adversaries, plus epic encounters, which they said is coming in the next few months.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. We've built an excellent group under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for this game and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the human scale that made this possible and do maybe one big game after another,” the producer said.

Their team size drummed up plenty of debate following launch. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, looked at this studio as a perfect example for creative teams. Although the team is and was indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the game's credits shows that numerous contributors were involved; the French studio contracted a Korean team handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“We will hire a little more for sure if we have a future production surge in the coming years,” they commented. “Yet I picture more of a workshop of a few really talented people capable of producing artistic collaborations.” It was stated that their core belief as developers “is more to maintain the successful elements that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details what’s next — and trust me, I tried to get them to — they are certain what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of what we built,” they said. “It's still premature to be able to tell our next interests, however, it's crucial to adhere to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer mentioned that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. And hopefully this approach we will be able to do in coming projects.”