🔗 Share this article

The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong GOTY candidate, but also an enormous commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title surpassed 5 million units sold, and that’s even with it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement was a shock for the team. I was convinced that we'd create a good game garnering some average market performance,” a senior team member commented.

A technical director remarked that Clair Obscur’s critical score, now standing at 93, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock to the studio versus “our initial expectations and the final result turned out to be. Once it was published all staff members were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

This triumph resulted in the studio creating new free content for the title featuring fresh areas, adversaries, and boss fights, as announced would be out in the next few months.

That said, as the title expands, it's unlikely the studio to grow. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for this game plus upcoming innovations. We intend to preserve the human scale that led to our success then develop one big game after another,” the producer added.

The studio's scale sparked a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, looked at this studio as the “ideal” for a studio. While Sandfall was and is indeed a small team compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the title's staff list indicates many individuals were involved; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more certainly should there be a future production surge down the line,” the executive commented. “However, I envision more of a workshop comprising a handful really talented people that create collective masterpieces.” They emphasized that their core belief as developers “aims to keep the key advantages that enabled this success from the start.”

Although it's too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans what’s next — rest assured, I tried to get them to — the team does know what’s at its core. “Turn-based gameplay, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” the lead programmer remarked. “It's a bit too early to specify what will interest us, yet we must to adhere to our studio's essence featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that drives our passion.”

The developer mentioned that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began with the visionary developing his passion title. It is hoped that's something we can continue in coming projects.”