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The game Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY contender, but also a huge financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive announced that the game exceeded five million copies in sales, this is even with it being a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as a surprise to the developers. I firmly believed that we'd create a solid title that would meet reasonable commercial success,” the COO and producer commented.

Another leading developer noted the game's critical score, rated 93 by critics, was “maybe the biggest shock to the team compared to our early predictions and the actual outcome proved to be. Because when it dropped all staff members celebrated excitedly. It felt absolutely wild.”

That success resulted in Sandfall developing a free update for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, and boss fights, reportedly would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.

That said, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. We've built an excellent group under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for this game and future concepts. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that worked for this game and do maybe major titles sequentially,” they noted.

The size of Sandfall drummed up a storm of discussion following launch. A few well-known creators, including renowned designers, considered Sandfall’s team as a perfect example for creative teams. While Sandfall was and is relatively lean versus large developers, a quick look at the title's staff list reveals many individuals were involved; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“Some hiring will occur a little more certainly when facing a future production surge in upcoming years,” the producer commented. “But I would see essentially a craft studio of a few exceptionally gifted creators that create collective masterpieces.” He noted that their core belief as a company “aims to keep the successful elements that made this achievement possible in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details what’s next — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of this project,” they remarked. “It's still premature to specify what will interest us, but it's important also to adhere to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that excites us.”

The developer noted that the project began with their director developing his passion title. We aspire that philosophy we can continue as well for future productions.”