Xbox’s separation from Compulsion Games – one of four studios it spun out independently during the recent Xbox “reset” amidst thousands of layoffs – appears to be complete, as the developer itself is now listed as the publisher of 2025’s award-winning South of Midnight on Steam instead of Xbox Game Studios. The change was first pointed out by indie developer Michael Klamerus on Bluesky. (Hat tip to IGN Discord member Tommy for flagging it to us.)
Interestingly, Xbox Game Studios is still listed as the publisher of Double Fine’s Psychonauts 2 on Steam despite the San Francisco game developer also becoming independent after Xbox’s recent sweeping changes. The same is also currently true for Undead Labs’ State of Decay 3 and Ninja Theory’s Senua, though both of those studios were acquired by other publishers who have yet to be revealed.
It’s been a rough year for both Xbox employees and Xbox fans – including most recently tepid early sales numbers for Halo: Campaign Evolved – but there is at least some cool stuff to be optimistic about in the coming months, from Gears of War: E-Day’s release in October (check out our multiplayer hands-on impressions – and the sick special-edition controllers) to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 giving us a break from Black Ops, the 10-out-of-10 Forza Horizon 6 pulling into PlayStation’s driveway sometime before the end of the year, and Fable making its long-awaited return in February.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s executive editor of previews and host of IGN’s weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, and a co-host of Next-Gen Console Watch. He’s a North Jersey guy, so it’s “Taylor ham,” not “pork roll.” Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
