Montreal-based Compulsion Games is officially independent once more.<\/p>\n
The Canadian\u00a0South of Midnight developer confirmed to GamesBeat that it has successfully negotiated with Xbox to separate from the gaming giant after being acquired by it in 2018. Xbox has been laying off thousands of employees as part of a wider company reset, making it all the more notable that Compulsion managed to break off.<\/p>\n
Thanks to @deantak.bsky.social for sitting down with Guillaume Provost to talk about Compulsion\u2019s independence.
\nEvery game you buy now directly supports Compulsion and helps fund our next project.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Compulsion Games (@compulsiongames.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 1:08 PM<\/p>\n
Compulsion CEO Guillaume Provost provided some more details in the GamesBeat interview, noting that the studio has also managed to retain the rights to\u00a0South of Midnight as well its two prior games, 2013\u2019s Contrast and 2018\u2019s\u00a0We Happy Few.\u00a0As a result, he said purchases of these games will now directly and fully support Compulsion, not Microsoft.<\/p>\n
Last week, there was discussion about store listings indicating that Compulsion had officially gone independent, although no one had confirmed that this was indeed true. Provost\u2019s clarification now about who actually owns South of Midnight is important because there have been calls to boycott Xbox both because of their continued string of mass layoffs and Microsoft\u2019s wider association with the Israeli government amid its genocidal war against Palestine.<\/p>\n
Provost noted to\u00a0GamesBeat that there\u2019s been a \u201ctransition period\u201d in terms of transferring the rights to Compulsion. However, he confirmed that \u201cbuying the games is supporting the studio as a result of that change.\u201d He also said the exit was \u201cgracious on Microsoft\u2019s part,\u201d acknowledging that they could have instead all lost their jobs.<\/p>\n
Irrespective of Microsoft,\u00a0South of Midnight\u00a0has received significant praise in the gaming industry for its touching story about a young Black woman healing her community in the American Deep South, including winning a prestigious Peabody and sweeping the Canadian Game Awards in May. (Disclaimer:\u00a0MobileSyrup\u00a0was on the CGAs voting jury.)<\/p>\n
And yet, just a few weeks after their big CGAs night, we learned that Xbox was potentially going to close Compulsion alongside several other studios, including Double Fine (Psychonauts) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade). Ultimately, these teams managed to negotiate their independence.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s undeniably great to see all of these studios avoid closure, it\u2019s important to stress that they must now contend with one of the worst periods the gaming industry has ever seen amid tens of thousands of layoffs while being independent. Provost admitted to GamesBeat that some employees left once the studio faced the risk of closure, but he wouldn\u2019t confirm how many people are currently staffed there. That said, he said the bulk of the management team has stayed on and noted that most of the developers said they \u201cwould rather eat rocks and drink gasoline\u201d than split up.<\/p>\n
Going forward, Provost says he is exploring options for funding to keep Compulsion going. He also indicated that part of the team will continue to work on a new title that was in the early stages of development at Xbox prior to the separation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to make sure that we\u2019re setting the team up for success,\u201d Provost said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to take things slow. We\u2019re going to meet with everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you want to support this wonderful team,\u00a0South of Midnight\u00a0is available on PS5, Xbox Series X\/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. More information on the game, as well as\u00a0Contrast and\u00a0We Happy Few, can be found on the studio\u2019s website.<\/p>\n