Xbox’s Separation from Compulsion Games Seems Complete as Studio Is Listed as the Publisher of South of Midnight on Steam
Compulsion Games is now listed as the publisher of South of Midnight on Steam, replacing Xbox Game Studios, suggesting Xbox’s separation from the studio has been completed. The change matters because Steam sales revenue will now go directly to the developer, following Xbox’s recent restructuring and studio spin-outs.
Compulsion Games was one of four studios made independent during an Xbox “reset” that also involved thousands of redundancies. Other newly independent studios have not yet seen the same Steam publishing change: Xbox Game Studios remains listed for Psychonauts 2, while State of Decay 3 and Senua are still attributed to Xbox despite their developers being acquired by as-yet unnamed publishers.
In short
- Compulsion Games now publishes South of Midnight on Steam.
- The change suggests its Xbox separation is complete.
- Other spun-out studios still list Xbox as publisher.
Explained simply
Compulsion Games is the studio that makes South of Midnight, a video game released for sale on Steam, a major PC gaming shop. Xbox Game Studios is Microsoft’s game publishing arm, which had previously been listed as the game’s publisher.
The change comes after Xbox made Compulsion and three other studios independent as part of a wider restructuring that included thousands of job cuts. The studios’ situations differ: other games remain listed under Xbox, while some developers have been acquired by publishers whose identities have not been announced.
Who is listed as a publisher can affect where sales revenue goes and which company handles a game’s release. The change therefore offers a sign of how the separation is taking shape, though it does not by itself explain all the studios’ arrangements.
Entertainment Gaming Software Technology