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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive Game of the Year candidate, it’s also a massive commercial success. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title surpassed five million copies in sales, and that’s despite its status as a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

This achievement came as an unexpected turn to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience that would meet some average commercial success,” a key executive explained.

A technical director pointed out the game's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, came as the greatest surprise” to the team compared to our early predictions and the final result proved to be. Once it was published all staff members were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

This triumph has led to the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the game with a new environment, enemies, along with challenging bosses, reportedly would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, it's unlikely the team will expand. “We have a great team with a strong creative director possessing strong ideas for the project plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that made this possible then develop major titles sequentially,” the producer said.

The studio's scale drummed up a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, like Hideo Kojima, looked at this studio as a perfect example for creative teams. Despite being truly compact next to major studios, one glance at the game's credits indicates numerous contributors worked on it; the French studio contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“We plan to recruit a little more certainly if we have next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” they commented. “However, I envision rather a creative atelier of a few exceptionally gifted creators that can make a work of art together.” He noted that the studio's philosophy as a company “aims to keep the key advantages that made this achievement possible from the start.”

Despite being too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans regarding upcoming titles — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of what we built,” a developer said. “It's still premature to be able to tell future passions, however, it's crucial to stay true to our studio's essence through compelling worlds plus innovative play that excites us.”

They noted how this game began with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that's something we will be able to do as well for future productions.”