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Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is not only a strong GOTY contender, it’s also a huge financial hit. Developer Sandfall Interactive and publisher Kepler Interactive revealed that the game exceeded 5 million units in sales, and that’s despite it being a day-one release through the Game Pass service.

The game's performance came as an unexpected turn for the team. I was convinced that we'd create a good game that would meet reasonable market performance,” a key executive stated.

The CTO and lead programmer pointed out the game's review aggregate, which currently sits at 93, came as perhaps the greatest surprise” to the team relative to “our initial expectations and what the reality proved to be. Once it was published everybody in the studio celebrated excitedly. It was really frantic.”

This triumph prompted work on new free content for the game featuring fresh areas, foes, plus epic encounters, which they said will release sometime soon.

That said, as the title expands, it's unlikely the studio to grow. We've built an excellent group with a strong creative director possessing strong ideas for our work and future concepts. We'd like to keep the small-team dynamic that made this possible then develop major titles sequentially,” they said.

Their team size generated a storm of discussion upon the title's release. Certain industry figures, like Hideo Kojima, looked at the development group as the model for a studio. Despite being truly compact compared to its AAA counterparts, one glance at the title's staff list shows that numerous contributors worked on it; the French studio partnered with overseas animators to work on gameplay animations, as an instance.

“We plan to recruit a little more for sure if we have an increase in development in upcoming years,” the executive commented. “However, I envision essentially a craft studio comprising a handful highly skilled individuals that create artistic collaborations.” He noted that their core belief as developers “is more to maintain the key advantages that enabled this success in the first place.”

Although it's not the right time to reveal exact details regarding upcoming titles — and trust me, I attempted to learn more — they are certain their essential identity. “Strategic combat, I think it's in the DNA of this project,” they said. “It's still premature to be able to tell future passions, however, it's crucial to adhere to our creative core featuring rich storytelling plus innovative play that inspires the team.”

They added that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 started with the creative director pursuing his ideal project. It is hoped that philosophy we can continue with upcoming games.”