Compulsion Games Doesn’t Belong to Xbox Anymore—Studio Listed as South of Midnight Publisher on Steam

Last month, Microsoft carried out a major restructuring within its Xbox division, and as a result, several gaming studios lost their developers, while others split from the company entirely. Compulsion Games, best known for South of Midnight, was one of them, and users recently discovered the studio no longer has any ties to Microsoft.

Steam users noticed South of Midnight's page now lists Compulsion Games itself as publisher, rather than Xbox Game Studios. That confirms earlier reports the studio would go independent, which turned out to be exactly what happened, just over a month after the restructuring. It means Compulsion Games will now earn revenue directly from its games, rather than through Xbox Game Studios as before.

NEW: Compulsion Games has reportedly left Xbox and become an independent studio, following studio closure plans.

South of Midnight is now listed as being published by Compulsion Games on Steam, replacing Xbox Game Studios.

However, at this moment, not every studio's fate is settled yet. For instance, Double Fine, the studio behind the Psychonauts game series, lost 23 staff members at the end of last month as part of its own split from Xbox and is still listed on Steam under Xbox Game Studios, as are Undead Labs (State of Decay) and Ninja Theory (Hellblade), both previously reported to be heading toward independence as well.

As for Compulsion Games, the studio hasn't shared any plans for the future since splitting from Xbox, including whether it's working on any new projects.