Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only an impressive GOTY candidate, it’s also an enormous sales triumph. Studio Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that the game topped five million copies in sales, and that’s even with it being a launch-day addition on Xbox Game Pass.
This achievement was a surprise to the developers. “I was strongly believing that we would have an enjoyable experience achieving reasonable sales results,” the COO and producer commented.
The CTO and lead programmer pointed out this title's Metacritic rating, now standing at 93, came as the most surprising moment to the studio relative to our early predictions and what the reality of the field was. Because when it dropped all staff members were cheering loudly. The energy was electric.”
That success prompted work on a complimentary expansion for the title including novel settings, enemies, along with challenging bosses, reportedly would be out within the “upcoming month[s]”.
That said, as the title expands, it's unlikely the studio to grow. “We have a talented crew under clear creative leadership who has a great vision for this game and also for new ideas. Our goal is to maintain the close-knit size that made this possible and perhaps create major titles sequentially,” they said.
The size of Sandfall sparked significant conversation following launch. Certain industry figures, including renowned designers, viewed this studio as a perfect example for game development. Although the team is and was relatively lean compared to its AAA counterparts, a quick look at the title's staff list indicates many individuals participated; the French studio contracted a Korean team to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.
“We plan to recruit a little more definitely if we have next an upcoming production peak down the line,” the executive said. “However, I envision more of a workshop of a few exceptionally gifted creators that can make artistic collaborations.” They emphasized that their core belief as developers “aims to keep the key advantages that enabled this success in the first place.”
Despite being not the right time to disclose concrete plans regarding upcoming titles — believe me, I tried to get them to — they are certain what’s at its core. “Strategic combat, is integral to our identity of what we built,” a developer remarked. “The timing isn't right to specify our next interests, yet we must to adhere to our creative core featuring rich storytelling and the interesting gameplay that excites us.”
They mentioned how this game originated from the creative director developing his passion title. It is hoped that philosophy will be repeated in coming projects.”
