It looks like layoffs at Xbox have started, with a number of developers at South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games now looking for new opportunities. The layoffs come as part of a massive shakeup at Xbox under new CEO Asha Sharma, which will reportedly see multiple Xbox Game Studios either closed or going independent once more.
The fate of Compulsion as a studio is still unclear. Reports from earlier in June suggested that Xbox was preparing to close the studio, though Compulsion leadership was said to be in discussions with Xbox over potentially spinning the studio off on its own.
News of the Compulsion layoffs comes from individual developers’ posts on LinkedIn announcing that they are no longer with the studio, as compiled by reporter Mr Rebs.
Compulsion is based in Montreal and was founded in 2009. After developing Contrast and being at work on We Happy Few, it was acquired by Microsoft in 2018 as part of a flurry of studio purchases.
The Compulsion layoffs may be only the start for Xbox, with CEO Asha Sharma lining up big changes in an attempt to get Xbox “healthy” again, promising a “reset” on the business. Bloomberg reported that layoffs would likely occur after June 30, after the end of Microsoft’s fiscal year.
Alongside Compulsion, multiple other studios including Double Fine and Ninja Theory are also reportedly in negotiations with Xbox to get their studios out from under Microsoft’s ownership to avoid complete closure. There’s been no recent update on how those talks are going–other than a single, not-so-promising emoji posted to Double Fine’s X account.