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Kotaku: Xbox Compulsion Games reportedly shutting down, Arkane Studios could be the second studio

Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member
Update 1:15pm ET: According to one source at the studio, Compulsion leadership is in 'negotiations' with Microsoft over the studio's fate, but the details of these negotiations have not been disclosed.


Xbox is planning to shut down Compulsion Games, developer of Peabody Award-winning South of Midnight and We Happy Few, Kotaku has learned.

It is unclear how many individuals total will be impacted; the studio's LinkedIn page says around 90 individuals work there, though Kotaku understands the actual total to be higher, and multiple individuals have now posted on social media looking for work. Just two months ago, the studio's talent lead was posting job listings on LinkedIn for the studio, advertising work on a "fascinating, intriguing, brand new IP."

This comes just days after Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Microsoft Game Studios head Matt Booty published an open email to the company revealing Xbox's recent financial and logistical struggles, amid reports that mass layoffs were expected to begin in the coming weeks.




Arkane is reportedly the second studio being shut down by Microsoft:

Some employees who spoke to me are higher up within the studios, and have said there is "real concern" that they're next based on the messaging from the company.
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https://xcancel.com/MikeStrawMedia/status/2066556200401928225
 
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>Some friends of mine that work for a Microsoft owned studio just got laid off and told that the studio is shutting down... what a dumb timeline we live in, they bought 500 studios just to close them all down.

When asked by another user which studio it was, they said it was Compulsion Games. They later edited their comment, but the original version can still be seen in [this quote reply.](https://www.resetera.com/threads/xbox-game-studios-bethesda-abk-ot37-the-plans-the-plan-
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There next game was probably 3 to 5 years out at best.
Not shocked.

Though would be nice if they could afford to go independent and buy themselves out of Microsoft.

Closing studios outright should never be the answer..............except Haven.



P.S They sent South of Midnight out to die.
 
Unfortunately, in this current climate they would probably be seen as the low hanging fruit.

I remember playing through contrast, I think it might have been on the PS4 at launch or ps plus. Or was it Xbox live. It wasn't really a very good game. We happy few was panned and south of midnight is supposed to be fine, I suppose?

Rough, but I can't see how this can be the catastrophic news that the french journalist was talking about. Compulsion games is no where near the level of other recent studio closures.
 
This was to be expected, considering that South of Midnight was likely a major commercial flop.
Still I'm surprised Double Fine isn't on the chopping block first.
 
i guess it was ...................................... compulsory to axe them

csi-miami.gif
 
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samoilaaa said:
obsidian will be next if they dont wake up
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Obsidian would be a big one, not so much Compulsion.

Obsidian haven't lived up to their past and have a now tried and tested conveyor belt of "eh, it'll do" titles good enough for Game Pass fodder that, if there is any shakeup to happen around day 1 and GP, will have all eyes looking directly at them, what they do and how they do it.
 
When will these devs learn that these "modern audiences" they keep shitting out games for only exist in internet echo chambers like Resetera? Nothing of this is genuine, nothing of this is real.
 
spons said:
What are they even working on right now?
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grounded 2 is in early access , if i remember correctly outer worlds isnt getting a sequel so the only thing left is an avowed sequel but it was me i would start working on a Pillars of eternity 3 with cutscenes like baldur's gate 3 ( budget of 200-300 million )

and no modern writing/politics shit , a mature game with a great story and alot of branching paths , deep rpg mechanics , trust me a game like this would sell alot
 
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Also, Double Fine's problem is that they haven't really developed a shit game, it's just that they have zero audience for their products as they generally make something they'd play instead of focusing on what people would play. Authorship isn't really a thing in games and there's a lot of give when it comes to pleasing consumers.

So I'm surprised they're not the first one on the chopping block (although they don't deserve it).
 
As much as I hate seeing people lose their jobs, it's the responsible thing to do for someone like Asha who is managing a division that has to be profitable.

I hear this argument that a service like Game Pass needs a wide variety of content and different sizes of games to be appealing. That makes some amount of sense, but only if the games are punching at or above their weight. Stuff like Grounded and Hi-Fi Rish makes sense. But DoubleFine and Compulsion aren't in that league.

I can already hear all the gaming podcasts crying about DoubleFine being closed. But I would bet if you went back and looked at their previous episodes and any streams of them playing games, you would see they spent little or no time with the last couple of DoubleFine games. :pie_thinking:
 
Sephimoth said:
Not sure I understand why studios get shuttered rather than just 'released'?
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It should be obvious if you think about it, but I will help you out.

Because someone needs to invest, otherwise no one will get paid. Also, these studios don't own their IPs and offices and assets..
They often are not able to produce a game on their own, without support studios, either.
The talent would immediately leave for greener pastures, likely transferred by Microsoft itself.
 
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rm082e said:
As much as I hate seeing people lose their jobs, it's the responsible thing to do for someone like Asha who is managing a division that has to be profitable.
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A job in the video game industry is a very privileged job. Especially if you develop games absolutely nobody asked for.
These people have always the option to change career and chose a more down to earth occupation.
 
Sticks said:
Xbox is gonna focus on three pillars from now on

Halo
Gears
Forza

CoD will do its thing every year.
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They still need to make new IPs. InXile is owned by them and they're probably going to produce a great game in Clockwork Revolution. We need more of that from their studios. As much as I love Halo and Gears, they're not enough. We need variety
 
South of Midnight realistically lost over $100 million. It took 6-7 (!!!!!) years to make and didn't even sell 250,000 copies.

rm082e said:
As much as I hate seeing people lose their jobs, it's the responsible thing to do for someone like Asha who is managing a division that has to be profitable.

I hear this argument that a service like Game Pass needs a wide variety of content and different sizes of games to be appealing. That makes some amount of sense, but only if the games are punching at or above their weight. Stuff like Grounded and Hi-Fi Rish makes sense. But DoubleFine and Compulsion aren't in that league.

I can already hear all the gaming podcasts crying about DoubleFine being closed. But I would bet if you went back and looked at their previous episodes and any streams of them playing games, you would see they spent little or no time with the last couple of DoubleFine games. :pie_thinking:
Click to expand...

They're luxuries for a publisher. It's an outdated reference, but when you are Disney and making gazillions of dollars in the 1990s with Lion King and all that you can afford to fund Miramax to put artsy shit out there that doesn't make any money. When you are struggling, they are the first to go.
 
GreenAlien said:
It should be obvious if you think about it, but I will help you out.

Because someone needs to invest, otherwise no one will get paid. Also, these studios don't own their IPs and offices and assets..
They often are not able to produce a game on their own, without support studios, either.
The talent would immediately leave for greener pastures, likely transferred by Microsoft itself.
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Make sense I guess. I mean, maybe there could be some arrangement where they say "We're dropping you on this date in 3/6 months. Seek an investor or buyer to continue without us".
 
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Sephimoth said:
Make sense I guess. I mean, maybe there could be some arrangement where they say "We're dropping you on this date in 3/6 months. Seek an investor or buyer to continue without us".
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This does happen occasionally. Biggest example is Bungie which basically bought its independence from Microsoft.

Meta shut down the dev team that was working on a fitness game named Supernatural (which I really liked) that they bought a few years prior. I got an email the other day saying the studio is reforming. So basically a new studio is opening and buying the IP back from them. So this does happen. I think the lack of investor/buyer interest is what keeps it from happening more often, these studios are often shut down for a reason.
 
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