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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong Game of the Year contender, but also a massive commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that this title exceeded five million copies in sales, this is despite it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement was a surprise to the developers. I firmly believed that we would have a solid title achieving reasonable commercial success,” the COO and producer explained.

A technical director pointed out this title's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, was the greatest surprise” for everyone relative to “our initial expectations and the actual outcome of the field was. When the score released the entire team were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

That success has led to the studio creating new free content for the game featuring fresh areas, enemies, plus epic encounters, as announced is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

However, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. We've built a talented crew with a strong creative director with a clear direction for our work plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the close-knit size that led to our success and do maybe one big game after another,” the executive noted.

The size of Sandfall generated significant conversation upon the title's release. A few well-known creators, including renowned designers, looked at the development group as a perfect example for creative teams. Despite being truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, checking the title's staff list reveals many individuals worked on it; Sandfall contracted a Korean team for animation work, to illustrate.

“We plan to recruit a bit more for sure if we have next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” the producer commented. “Yet I picture more of a workshop of a few highly skilled individuals that can make a work of art together.” It was stated that their core belief as a studio “aims to keep the successful elements that enabled this success originally.”

Despite being premature for the studio to reveal exact details what’s next — rest assured, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Turn-based gameplay, forms the foundation of our creations,” they remarked. “It's a bit too early to announce future passions, but it's important also to remain faithful to our creative core with [a] strong narrative universe and engaging mechanics that drives our passion.”

The developer added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 originated from the visionary developing his passion title. And hopefully that's something we can continue in coming projects.”