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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong Game of the Year contender, but also a massive commercial success. Studio the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive announced that this title topped 5 million units sold, and that’s in spite of its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

Its success was a shock for the team. I was convinced that we would have a good game achieving moderate commercial success,” a key executive commented.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out this title's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, came as the most surprising moment to the studio versus our early predictions and what the reality proved to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio were cheering loudly. It was really frantic.”

This triumph resulted in work on a complimentary expansion for the title including novel settings, foes, along with challenging bosses, which they said will release sometime soon.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. “We have a talented crew guided by a visionary director possessing strong ideas for the project and future concepts. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that worked for this game and do maybe major titles sequentially,” they noted.

Their team size sparked a storm of discussion when the game came out. Some developers, such as the famed director, looked at Sandfall’s team as the model for game development. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the game's credits shows that many individuals were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, as an instance.

“We will hire a bit more definitely when facing an increase in development down the line,” the executive stated. “But I would see essentially a craft studio comprising a handful highly skilled individuals capable of producing a work of art together.” They emphasized that their core belief as a studio “focuses on preserving the key advantages that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

While it may be not the right time to disclose concrete plans what’s next — believe me, efforts were made — they are certain their essential identity. “Turn-based gameplay, is integral to our identity of our creations,” a developer remarked. “The timing isn't right to be able to tell our next interests, but it's important also to adhere to our studio's essence with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that drives our passion.”

They added how this game started with the visionary “work[ing] on his dream game. We aspire that's something we can continue as well for future productions.”