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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top GOTY candidate, but also a huge commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner revealed that the game surpassed five million copies sold, this is even with its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as quite a shock for the team. I firmly believed that we'd create a solid title that would meet moderate market performance,” the COO and producer stated.

The CTO and lead programmer noted this title's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment for everyone versus our early predictions and what the reality of the field was. Once it was published everybody in the studio was screaming and jumping. The energy was electric.”

That success prompted the studio creating new free content for the game featuring fresh areas, adversaries, along with challenging bosses, as announced will release in the next few months.

However, while the game is growing, don’t expect they'll hire extensively. Our team includes an excellent group with a strong creative director who has a great vision for our work and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that worked for this game then develop major titles sequentially,” the producer noted.

The size of Sandfall sparked plenty of debate upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, viewed the development group as a perfect example for a studio. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team versus large developers, checking the game's credits indicates many individuals worked on it; the French studio hired a team in Korea to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“We plan to recruit a bit more certainly when facing a future production surge in the coming years,” the producer said. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators that create a work of art together.” It was stated that the studio's philosophy as a studio “focuses on preserving the strengths that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

Despite being premature for the studio to reveal exact details about future projects — and trust me, efforts were made — they are certain their essential identity. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer remarked. “It's still premature to be able to tell our next interests, however, it's crucial to adhere to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer added how this game started with their director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that's something we can continue as well for future productions.”