🔗 Share this article

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong Game of the Year contender, but also a huge commercial success. Studio the development team along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that the game exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s in spite of it being a launch-day addition through the Game Pass service.

Its success came as quite a surprise for the team. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience garnering reasonable sales results,” a key executive explained.

A technical director noted the game's critical score, which currently sits at 93, was the most surprising moment for everyone relative to what we anticipated and the actual outcome of the field was. Because when it dropped all staff members celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success resulted in Sandfall developing a free update for the title including novel settings, enemies, plus epic encounters, which they said is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, as the title expands, it's unlikely the team will expand. Our team includes an excellent group guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for this game plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that made this possible and perhaps create large projects one by one,” they noted.

The studio's scale sparked plenty of debate upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, looked at this studio as the model for game development. Despite being indeed a small team versus large developers, one glance at the title's staff list reveals dozens of people were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“We will hire a bit more for sure when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the producer commented. “However, I envision more of a workshop comprising a handful highly skilled individuals capable of producing collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that Sandfall’s vision as a company “focuses on preserving the key advantages that led to this accomplishment in the first place.”

While it may be too early for Sandfall to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — the team does know their fundamental principles. “The turn-based aspect, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer said. “The timing isn't right to announce future passions, but it's important also to remain faithful to the DNA of studio with [a] strong narrative universe plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer noted how this game originated from the visionary pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that philosophy we can continue in coming projects.”