🔗 Share this article

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY contender, it’s also a huge sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title topped five million copies in sales, this is despite its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as an unexpected turn to Sandfall. “I was strongly believing that we'd create an enjoyable experience achieving moderate market performance,” the COO and producer stated.

Another leading developer remarked the game's Metacritic rating, which currently sits at 93, was “maybe the biggest shock to the studio relative to “our initial expectations and the actual outcome of the field was. Because when it dropped all staff members was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success has led to work on new free content for the title including novel settings, foes, and boss fights, reportedly is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, despite the game's evolution, it's unlikely they'll hire extensively. “We have a talented crew with a strong creative director with a clear direction for our work and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that led to our success and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” the producer added.

The size of Sandfall generated plenty of debate following launch. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, considered Sandfall’s team as the “ideal” for a studio. Although the team is and was indeed a small team versus large developers, checking the game's credits shows that numerous contributors were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“We plan to recruit slightly more certainly if we have next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” they stated. “Yet I picture essentially a craft studio of a few highly skilled individuals that can make artistic collaborations.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as developers “is more to maintain the key advantages that enabled this success from the start.”

While it may be premature for the studio to reveal exact details what’s next — and trust me, efforts were made — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of what we built,” they said. “It's a bit too early to announce our next interests, however, it's crucial to remain faithful to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

The lead programmer noted how this game started with the visionary “work[ing] on his dream game. We aspire this approach we can continue with upcoming games.”