Director of South Of Midnight Questions Xbox Funding Decision

Now that it’s free to chart its own course away from Xbox, Compulsion Games, the studio behind South of Midnight, is actively seeking collaborations with new partners. However, based on recent remarks from creative director David Sears, it seems likely that their next venture could diverge significantly from South of Midnight. Sears has expressed doubts about the game’s viability as a business decision from the start.

In a conversation with an outlet, Sears elaborated on Xbox’s choice to back projects like South of Midnight and Double Fine’s Keeper—titles that he and Xbox recognized might not be financial blockbusters (and indeed, they weren’t) but were intended to elevate Xbox’s reputation and serve as cultural touchstones for future generations. He also mentioned that he warned during development, “At some point, someone is going to say, ‘We’re closing the money tap,’ and that will have serious repercussions down the line.”

The interviewer summarized Sears’ perspective, suggesting that while there’s gratitude for Microsoft’s support of South of Midnight, he likely wouldn’t have funded it himself.

Sears confirmed this, saying, “Yeah, probably.” He added:

“I wanted to make it. No doubt about that. We did make it. But would I have cut off someone else’s funding before South of Midnight? Yeah. I’m not entirely selfless. In hindsight, it seems unsustainable. It was bound to have a ‘shocking’ outcome. It’s easy to analyze it now, but during development, I’d talk to other directors who were like, ‘How is this happening? Did we get lucky? Is this a golden era?’ And I’d always think (he inhales sharply), ‘For now.’ There’s always a night when Rome burns. I didn’t know when it would happen, but I was always concerned.”

Sears wrapped up his thoughts by noting that today’s Microsoft feels much “more humane” compared to the company he experienced in the ’90s, especially since it allowed studios to spin off rather than simply shutting them down.

Besides South of Midnight, Compulsion Games is also recognized for 2018’s We Happy Few, which was developed with Gearbox Publishing. The studio was acquired by Microsoft just before that game’s release to join Xbox Game Studios and subsequently began work on South of Midnight, which garnered multiple awards, including a BAFTA, after its launch in 2025. Compulsion was spun out from Microsoft during Xbox’s recent restructuring, taking its intellectual property and an undisclosed amount of financial support with it. It remains unclear whether the studio has secured a new project yet.