Compulsion Games is looking for work one week after going independent from Xbox

A week after Compulsion Games regained its independence amid the latest Xbox studio purge, the Montreal-based developer is already signaling it's open for business. The studio posted on LinkedIn that it's actively seeking collaborations with other developers and publishers.

The LinkedIn message invites partners to "leverage the talent and creativity of the award-winning team behind South of Midnight" — a game that won a BAFTA Award, a Peabody Award, seven Canadian Game Awards, and the Games for Impact prize at The Game Awards 2025, and landed on numerous Best Games of 2025 lists. Compulsion describes itself as bringing "artistry, technical expertise, and collaborative approach" to projects, and says it's ready to work as a support studio or co-developer. South of Midnight scored an 83% from PC Gamer and an 8/10 from IGN, but despite the critical reception it wasn't a major commercial hit — and that, ultimately, is what cost the studio its place inside Xbox.

Microsoft acquired Compulsion in 2018, seven years after the studio launched in 2009 as a service provider for studios including THQ and Atari. Before South of Midnight, Compulsion made Contrast and We Happy Few. Xbox cut loose Compulsion alongside Double Fine, Undead Labs, Ninja Theory, and Arkane as part of a broader push to concentrate resources on its biggest franchises. Microsoft drew some credit for letting Compulsion go independent rather than simply shutting it down — but the studio's immediate pivot to hunting for contract work underlines how precarious that independence actually is. The wider industry context makes it harder still: years of mass layoffs and studio closures have flooded the market with experienced developers competing for a shrinking pool of work.

The situation inside Compulsion may already be fragile — reports surfaced that numerous employees had started job-hunting weeks before the independence announcement, reportedly with leadership's blessing. Whether the studio can land enough work to sustain itself as a going concern remains an open question, and one the games industry will be watching closely.