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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong GOTY contender, it’s also an enormous sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner revealed that the game surpassed 5 million units in sales, this is despite it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

The game's performance came as an unexpected turn for the team. “I was strongly believing that we'd create an enjoyable experience garnering some average sales results,” the COO and producer commented.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked the game's critical score, which currently sits at 93, came as “maybe the biggest shock to the team relative to what we anticipated and the actual outcome turned out to be. When the score released the entire team were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

This triumph prompted the studio creating a complimentary expansion for players including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, as announced would be out sometime soon.

That said, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have an excellent group with a strong creative director with a clear direction for the project and future concepts. We'd like to keep the close-knit size that worked for this game then develop one big game after another,” they said.

Their team size sparked plenty of debate following launch. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, considered the development group as the model for game development. Although the team is and was indeed a small team next to major studios, checking the title's staff list reveals dozens of people worked on it; the French studio partnered with overseas animators to work on gameplay animations, for example.

“Some hiring will occur a little more certainly if we have an increase in development down the line,” the executive stated. “But I would see more of a workshop with a small number of highly skilled individuals capable of producing artistic collaborations.” He noted that their core belief as a company “focuses on preserving the successful elements that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to disclose concrete plans what’s next — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their essential identity. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of what we built,” the lead programmer said. “The timing isn't right to announce our next interests, however, it's crucial to stay true to our studio's essence through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that inspires the team.”

The developer added that the project originated from the creative director pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that philosophy we will be able to do as well for future productions.”