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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 isn't just a strong GOTY candidate, it’s also a massive commercial success. Developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher their publishing partner announced that the game exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s despite its status as a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as quite a shock for the team. I was convinced that we'd create a good game achieving some average market performance,” the COO and producer stated.

The CTO and lead programmer remarked that Clair Obscur’s critical score, rated 93 by critics, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” to the team relative to what we anticipated and the final result turned out to be. Because when it dropped all staff members were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”

This triumph resulted in the studio creating a complimentary expansion for the game including novel settings, foes, plus epic encounters, which they said would be out sometime soon.

Nevertheless, while the game is growing, fans shouldn't anticipate the studio to grow. Our team includes an excellent group guided by a visionary director who has a great vision for our work and future concepts. We intend to preserve the close-knit size that led to our success then develop one big game after another,” they said.

The studio's scale drummed up plenty of debate when the game came out. Certain industry figures, such as the famed director, considered this studio as the “ideal” for creative teams. Although the team is and was truly compact next to major studios, one glance at Expedition 33’s credits shows that many individuals participated; the French studio partnered with overseas animators handling movement and effects, for example.

“Some hiring will occur slightly more definitely when facing an increase in development in the coming years,” the executive commented. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio of a few highly skilled individuals capable of producing artistic collaborations.” He noted that their core belief as a studio “aims to keep the key advantages that made this achievement possible from the start.”

Despite being not the right time to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — the team does know their fundamental principles. “The turn-based aspect, I think it's in the DNA of our creations,” a developer remarked. “It's a bit too early to announce future passions, but it's important also to adhere to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and engaging mechanics that inspires the team.”

The lead programmer added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with the visionary pursuing his ideal project. And hopefully that's something we can continue as well for future productions.”