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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just an impressive GOTY candidate, it’s also a massive financial hit. Developer the development team and publisher their publishing partner revealed that this title exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as quite a surprise to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience achieving moderate sales results,” a senior team member explained.

A technical director remarked that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, rated 93 by critics, came as perhaps the most surprising moment for everyone compared to what we anticipated and what the reality of the field was. Once it was published all staff members was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success prompted Sandfall developing a free update for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, along with challenging bosses, as announced will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, while the game is growing, it's unlikely they'll hire extensively. Our team includes a talented crew guided by a visionary director with a clear direction for our work and also for new ideas. Our goal is to maintain the small-team dynamic that led to our success and perhaps create one big game after another,” they noted.

Their team size drummed up a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Some developers, such as the famed director, looked at the development group as the model for creative teams. Although the team is and was indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at Expedition 33’s credits indicates dozens of people were involved; the French studio contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“Some hiring will occur a little more definitely when facing next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” the executive said. “But I would see more of a workshop of a few really talented people that can make collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that their core belief as a company “aims to keep the key advantages that enabled this success in the first place.”

While it may be premature for the studio to say specifically what’s next — and trust me, I tried to get them to — the developers understand what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer said. “The timing isn't right to announce future passions, however, it's crucial to adhere to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

They mentioned that the project began with the creative director “work[ing] on his dream game. And hopefully that's something we can continue in coming projects.”