UPDATE, from a separate article by Jason Schreier: Compulsion, Double Fine, and Ninja Theory are all in active negotiations with Microsoft. Depending on how that goes, studios may be closed or spun off. I figured rather than also posting the Schreier article, I’ll wait until the dust settles on these deals. This is a bloodbath.
I saw this one coming, sadly. Xbox announced they’re laying off people, and while I like Compulsion Games it’s predictable that they’re getting the boot.
They made 3 games in the last 13 years and none of them have been big hits.
Not a surprise that South of Midnight underperformed. That game looks very niche to me. Southern Gothic folklore, combat and traversal gameplay basic and not innovative, levels are just swamps. The game definitely misses mass appeal with the typical gamer crowd and unfortunately a black female protagonist doesn’t help either. Sure not every game needs to have mass appeal but this game looks way too expensive to find success with just a niche audience. Like this game probably only appealed to a subset of a subset of the American gamers market. I doubt they had high sales numbers in Europe and Asia.
Sure, the story and gameplay were nothing to write home about. But the soundtrack was pretty good
I thought the story/world building were decent and the graphics/animation style were cool and engaging, but yeah the only standout thing was the soundtrack.
Honestly, if the game came out in the 360/ps3 era it would have been a hit, but the gameplay just felt so dated.
It sure feels like I’m the only person on the planet who actually, positively enjoyed Contrast.
There are at least two of us!