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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top Game of the Year contender, it’s also an enormous commercial success. Developer the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive announced that the game topped 5 million units sold, and that’s in spite of its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement came as a surprise to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a solid title that would meet reasonable market performance,” a key executive stated.

A technical director remarked that Clair Obscur’s review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, was the greatest surprise” to the studio compared to what we anticipated and what the reality proved to be. Because when it dropped everybody in the studio was screaming and jumping. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception has led to Sandfall developing new free content for the game featuring fresh areas, foes, along with challenging bosses, which they said will release sometime soon.

Nevertheless, despite the game's evolution, it's unlikely the studio to grow. We've built a great team under clear creative leadership possessing strong ideas for the project and also for new ideas. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that worked for this game and perhaps create one big game after another,” the executive said.

The size of Sandfall sparked significant conversation upon the title's release. Some developers, such as the famed director, considered this studio as the model for a studio. Although the team is and was relatively lean next to major studios, a quick look at Expedition 33’s credits shows that many individuals participated; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, for example.

“We plan to recruit a little more definitely if we have a future production surge in upcoming years,” they commented. “But I would see essentially a craft studio comprising a handful exceptionally gifted creators that can make collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that their core belief as a company “is more to maintain the successful elements that enabled this success in the first place.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans what’s next — believe me, I tried to get them to — the developers understand what’s at its core. “The turn-based aspect, is integral to our identity of this project,” a developer remarked. “It's still premature to be able to tell what will interest us, yet we must to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The lead programmer added that the project started with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. We aspire that philosophy we will be able to do in coming projects.”