Compulsion Games’ CEO made it clear that their mission isn’t to churn out massive hits like Call of Duty. Instead, the studio aims to produce original, artistic titles that serve overlooked audiences—like South of Midnight, which recently passed one million players thanks to Xbox Game Pass.

Under the umbrella of Xbox Game Studios, Compulsion Games has earned a name for itself by crafting uniquely stylized and often unsettling worlds like We Happy Few. Their newest title, South of Midnight, taps into southern folklore with bold, hand-crafted visuals. But while the aesthetics are captivating, they don’t necessarily translate into Call of Duty-level sales numbers.

Still, South of Midnight has made an impressive mark, drawing in over a million players within its first three weeks. Speaking to Gamerant, CEO Guillaume Provost confirmed that most of those players discovered the game through Xbox Game Pass. However, the game’s reach on Steam remains modest—on April 8, it peaked at just 1,483 concurrent users.

They’re Not Chasing the Mainstream

Some may be tempted to compare South of Midnight to breakout hits like Hi-Fi Rush, but Provost explained that Compulsion isn’t competing on the same playing field. “It’s not about making blockbusters like Call of Duty,” he said. “It’s about crafting games with personality—games that reach people who haven’t been served before, or projects that add variety to the Xbox portfolio.”

Firm Stance Against AI

In a conversation with Game Developer, Provost emphasized that Xbox has not pressured them to implement AI in their workflow—this despite recent demos of Muse, a tool capable of generating game assets. “I can guarantee that the use of generative AI is not mandatory. You’re talking to a studio that literally hand-builds everything. We’re extremely art-driven. Sure, there might be use cases in pre-production, but we’re not using it in production,” he concluded.

Source: 3djuegos