🔗 Share this article

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY contender, it’s also a huge sales triumph. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that the game exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as quite an unexpected turn to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience garnering reasonable market performance,” the COO and producer commented.

A technical director noted the game's Metacritic rating, rated 93 by critics, was the most surprising moment to the studio compared to our early predictions and the actual outcome proved to be. Once it was published the entire team celebrated excitedly. The energy was electric.”

This triumph resulted in work on a complimentary expansion for the title with a new environment, enemies, and boss fights, reportedly would be out sometime soon.

That said, while the game is growing, it's unlikely the studio to grow. “We have a great team under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for this game plus upcoming innovations. 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. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, viewed Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for a studio. Despite being truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the title's staff list indicates dozens of people were involved; the French studio partnered with overseas animators for animation work, for example.

“We plan to recruit a little more for sure should there be a future production surge in the coming years,” the producer commented. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators that create artistic collaborations.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as developers “focuses on preserving the successful elements that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Despite being premature for the studio to say specifically what’s next — believe me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of our creations,” a developer said. “The timing isn't right to be able to tell our next interests, but it's important also to remain faithful to our studio's essence featuring rich storytelling plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

They noted that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from their director pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that philosophy we will be able to do in coming projects.”