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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY contender, but also a massive commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher their publishing partner disclosed that this title surpassed 5 million units sold, and that’s in spite of its status as a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.

This achievement was a surprise to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we'd create an enjoyable experience achieving reasonable sales results,” a senior team member stated.

A technical director remarked that Clair Obscur’s Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, came as perhaps “maybe the biggest shock to the studio compared to what we anticipated and the actual outcome proved to be. Once it was published all staff members was screaming and jumping. It was really frantic.”

This triumph prompted the studio creating a free update for the title with a new environment, foes, plus epic encounters, reportedly is coming within the “upcoming month[s]”.

Nevertheless, as the title expands, it's unlikely the studio to grow. Our team includes a great team with a strong creative director possessing strong ideas for our work and future concepts. We intend to preserve the small-team dynamic that made this possible then develop major titles sequentially,” the executive added.

The size of Sandfall sparked plenty of debate when the game came out. Some developers, such as the famed director, looked at this studio as the model for a studio. Although the team is and was relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the game's credits indicates dozens of people participated; the French studio partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, to illustrate.

“We plan to recruit slightly more definitely if we have next an upcoming production peak in upcoming years,” the executive commented. “But I would see essentially a craft studio of a few exceptionally gifted creators capable of producing a work of art together.” It was stated that their core belief as developers “aims to keep the successful elements that enabled this success from the start.”

While it may be not the right time to disclose concrete plans what’s next — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the developers understand their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, forms the foundation of our creations,” a developer explained. “The timing isn't right to be able to tell our next interests, yet we must to stay true to our creative core through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

The developer added how this game started with the creative director developing his passion title. We aspire this approach will be repeated as well for future productions.”