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According to Kotaku, Xbox is planning to shut down Compulsion Games, the Montreal studio behind gothic stop-motion action adventure South of Midnight and We Happy Few. Xbox has not officially announced the closure yet. The studio's LinkedIn page lists around 90 staff, though Kotaku state that the real figure to be higher, and several developers are already posting on social media looking for work.
It is a grim turn for a studio that only launched South of Midnight last year to strong reviews, a BAFTA and a Peabody Award for its storytelling. Just two months ago its talent lead was advertising for a new IP, so whatever was in the pipeline now looks uncertain.
Why Xbox is making cuts
In addition to corporation just doing what corporations do, the reports follow an email memo from new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma last week, in which she said leadership now faced some hard decisions. She called the studio system over extended and pointed to a steep revenue decline, framing further changes as unavoidable. Sharma had praised Compulsion earlier this year over its Peabody win, which makes the timing especially bleak.
Arkane Lyon and Marvel's Blade also under threat
In addition, Insider Gaming reports that Arkane Lyon, the team behind Deathloop and Dishonored, could also be at risk. That would be a far bigger shock given the studio's pedigree. Arkane is currently working on Marvel's Blade, which was a no-show at the recent Xbox Games Showcase. Insider Jeff Grubb recently briefly suggested the game might be dead before walking the claim back, and Arkane still lists it as active, but if the studio itself is on the chopping block, Blade's future looks shaky.
So what's next? Well, nothing here is confirmed by Microsoft. We will update this story if Xbox comments but at the moment, it's all just rumours and we sincerely hope it stays that way.
