Despite Massive Achievement, Expedition 33 Developers Intend to Maintain Team Compact

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a top GOTY contender, it’s also a huge sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive along with publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that this title surpassed five million copies 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 to Sandfall. I firmly believed that we'd create an enjoyable experience achieving moderate commercial success,” a key executive explained.

Another leading developer noted this title's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the most surprising moment to the studio versus “our initial expectations and what the reality turned out to be. When the score released the entire team were cheering loudly. It felt absolutely wild.”

The positive reception resulted in work on a free update for players including novel settings, adversaries, plus epic encounters, reportedly would be out sometime soon.

However, despite the game's evolution, fans shouldn't anticipate the team will expand. We've built a great team under clear creative leadership with a clear direction for this game and also for new ideas. We'd like to keep the human scale that led to our success and perhaps create large projects one by one,” the producer said.

The size of Sandfall generated significant conversation following launch. A few well-known creators, like Hideo Kojima, viewed Sandfall’s team as the model for a studio. Despite being indeed a small team next to major studios, one glance at the game's credits indicates numerous contributors participated; Sandfall partnered with overseas animators for animation work, for example.

“We will hire a bit more definitely if we have next an upcoming production peak in the coming years,” they said. “But I would see essentially a craft studio of a few exceptionally gifted creators that can make artistic collaborations.” It was stated that Sandfall’s vision as a company “is more to maintain the successful elements that led to this accomplishment originally.”

Although it's not the right time to disclose concrete plans about future projects — believe me, I attempted to learn more — they are certain their essential identity. “Turn-based gameplay, forms the foundation of our creations,” they said. “It's a bit too early to announce our next interests, however, it's crucial to stay true to the DNA of studio featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that drives our passion.”

They added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 began with their director “work[ing] on his dream game. It is hoped that's something we will be able to do as well for future productions.”