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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY contender, but also an enormous commercial success. Developer the development team and publisher their publishing partner announced that this title exceeded 5 million units in sales, this is in spite of its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement was a surprise to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we would have an enjoyable experience achieving reasonable commercial success,” a senior team member commented.

A technical director remarked the game's critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the team compared to “our initial expectations and what the reality proved to be. When the score released all staff members were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception has led to the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the title including novel settings, adversaries, and boss fights, reportedly will release within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, as the title expands, fans shouldn't anticipate they'll hire extensively. We've built a talented crew guided by a visionary 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 then develop major titles sequentially,” they said.

Their team size sparked plenty of debate when the game came out. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, considered this studio as a perfect example for creative teams. Despite being relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the game's credits indicates many individuals worked on it; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“We will hire slightly more for sure should there be next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the executive commented. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing a work of art together.” He noted that their core belief as a studio “aims to keep the key advantages that made this achievement possible from the start.”

While it may be premature for the studio to disclose concrete plans what’s next — rest assured, efforts were made — they are certain their essential identity. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer said. “It's still premature 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 excites us.”

They noted that the project began with the creative director developing his passion title. And hopefully that's something we will be able to do in coming projects.”