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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY contender, it’s also a massive financial hit. Developer the development team and publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that this title topped 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of it being a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

Its success was a shock to the developers. I firmly believed that we would have a solid title achieving some average sales results,” a senior team member explained.

The CTO and lead programmer noted this title's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, came as the greatest surprise” for everyone compared to “our initial expectations and what the reality turned out to be. Once it was published all staff members celebrated excitedly. It was really frantic.”

That success resulted in the studio creating new free content for players featuring fresh areas, adversaries, and boss fights, reportedly will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. “We have a great team guided by a visionary director possessing strong ideas for this game and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the human scale that worked for this game and do maybe large projects one by one,” they added.

The size of Sandfall generated significant conversation following launch. Some developers, including renowned designers, looked at this studio as a perfect example for game development. Despite being indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the title's staff list reveals many individuals participated; Sandfall contracted a Korean team handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“We plan to recruit slightly more certainly when facing a future production surge in upcoming years,” the producer stated. “But I would see rather a creative atelier comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators that can make a work of art together.” He noted that their core belief as a studio “focuses on preserving the key advantages that made this achievement possible from the start.”

Despite being not the right time to say specifically about future projects — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — they are certain what’s at its core. “The turn-based aspect, forms the foundation of what we built,” a developer explained. “It's a bit too early to announce what will interest us, yet we must to remain faithful to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that drives our passion.”

The lead programmer added that the project began with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully this approach we will be able to do as well for future productions.”