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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a top Game of the Year contender, it’s also a massive financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive disclosed that the game topped five million copies in sales, this is even with its status as a day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.

Its success came as quite an unexpected turn to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we'd create a solid title achieving moderate market performance,” a senior team member explained.

A technical director pointed out the game's critical score, now standing at 93, came as “maybe the biggest shock to the team versus our early predictions and what the reality of the field was. Once it was published the entire team was screaming and jumping. The energy was electric.”

The positive reception has led to the studio creating a free update for the title with a new environment, foes, and boss fights, reportedly would be out sometime soon.

Nevertheless, despite the game's evolution, it's unlikely the studio to grow. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for our work plus upcoming innovations. We'd like to keep the human scale that worked for this game and do maybe one big game after another,” they said.

The studio's scale sparked a storm of discussion when the game came out. A few well-known creators, such as the famed director, viewed the development group as the “ideal” for creative teams. Although the team is and was indeed a small team next to major studios, a quick look at the game's credits reveals dozens of people worked on it; Sandfall hired a team in Korea handling movement and effects, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more for sure if we have an increase in development down the line,” the executive said. “Yet I picture rather a creative atelier with a small number of highly skilled individuals capable of producing a work of art together.” He noted that Sandfall’s vision as a company “is more to maintain the strengths that led to this accomplishment from the start.”

Despite being too early for Sandfall to disclose concrete plans what’s next — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the team does know their fundamental principles. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of this project,” they said. “It's still premature to announce our next interests, but it's important also to adhere to the DNA of studio through compelling worlds and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”

They added how this game began with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. It is hoped this approach will be repeated as well for future productions.”