South of Midnight creative director David Sears says he probably would not have funded the game had he controlled Xbox's spending, describing its broader funding approach as “unsustainable” in hindsight.
Sears still wanted to make the action-adventure set in the American Deep South. He saw it as a game that could build Xbox's prestige and find players long after release, but questioned how long Microsoft would keep financing that kind of ambition.
A different job than Call of Duty
Compulsion Games CEO Guillaume Provost previously described the studio's role at Xbox as “not to make blockbusters like Call of Duty.” Instead, its purpose was to give the publisher's lineup more variety, reaching underserved audiences and supporting projects with a distinct identity.
Sears made a similar argument about the audience for adventure games like South of Midnight. Plenty of people love games without wanting to play Call of Duty, he said, with independent developers now meeting much of that demand.
Hazel in South of Midnight
The spending model Sears doubted
Microsoft acquired Compulsion in mid-2018 during an expansion of its development studios designed to strengthen Game Pass's day-one lineup. South of Midnight became Compulsion's third game, following Contrast in 2013 and We Happy Few in 2018.
For Sears, keeping development manageable mattered. He said he did not want responsibility for a giant budget or a 600-person team. He described two ways publisher spending could pay off: relatively inexpensive games with lasting cultural appeal, or projects with significant immediate commercial appeal. His concern was how reliably a large collection of studios could deliver either outcome.
He recalled warning that someone would eventually close the funding “floodgates,” with “really traumatic results downstream.” Sears invoked the Cassandra complex, the idea of anticipating a problem while having those warnings ignored, although he had hoped South of Midnight would become hugely successful.
When other directors wondered whether they were experiencing a golden era, his answer was “for now.” That uncertainty sat alongside his enthusiasm for the work, rather than replacing it.
Compulsion gets another chapter outside Xbox
Sears left Compulsion in March 2025, before Microsoft's July 2026 business reset brought thousands of job cuts and plans to separate from five studios, including Compulsion. He was no longer at the developer when that decision arrived.
Microsoft ultimately agreed to let Compulsion become independent rather than close it. The studio retained ownership of its games and their publishing rights after leaving Xbox.
Sears praised that outcome, describing modern Microsoft as “much more humane” than the company he remembered in the 1990s and early 2000s. His comparison was Ensemble Studios, which Microsoft acquired in 2001 and closed in 2009. Giving Compulsion a route out earned his approval, even as he questioned the spending that preceded it.
South of Midnight's platform releases now span:
- April 2025: Xbox consoles and PC.
- March 2026: PS5 and Switch 2.
Compulsion announced in July 2026 that it was seeking partners to develop new projects. Players picking up its latest release can browse the South of Midnight guide collection.
