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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top Game of the Year contender, it’s also a massive sales triumph. Developer the development team and publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title surpassed 5 million units in sales, and that’s despite its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as an unexpected turn to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience that would meet reasonable commercial success,” a key executive explained.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked the game's review aggregate, now standing at 93, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” to the studio versus what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. Once it was published everybody in the studio was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing a free update for the title including novel settings, enemies, and boss fights, which they said would be out sometime soon.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, it's unlikely the team will expand. We've built a great team with a strong creative director with a clear direction for this game plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the small-team dynamic that worked for this game and do maybe major titles sequentially,” they added.

The studio's scale drummed up plenty of debate upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team next to major studios, a quick look at the game's credits reveals dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more for sure when facing a future production surge down the line,” the producer said. “However, I envision rather a creative atelier comprising a handful highly skilled individuals capable of producing a work of art together.” It was stated that their core belief as developers “focuses on preserving the successful elements that enabled this success in the first place.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, efforts were made — they are certain their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of our creations,” they remarked. “It's still premature to announce future passions, however, it's crucial to adhere to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

They noted how this game began with their director developing his passion title. It is hoped that philosophy will be repeated in coming projects.”