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.
Comment on https://kotaku.com/xbox-shuttering-south-of-midnight-peabody-award-compulsion-games-2000706065
popcar2@piefed.ca 5 days ago
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.
2013: Contrast (mediocre reviews)
2018: We Happy Few (messy development, mediocre reviews)
2025: South of Midnight (decent reviews, reportedly underperformed)
SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 4 days ago
ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml 4 days ago
Sure, the story and gameplay were nothing to write home about. But the soundtrack was pretty good
jacksilver@lemmy.world 4 days ago
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.
rtxn@lemmy.world 5 days ago
It sure feels like I’m the only person on the planet who actually, positively enjoyed Contrast.
Kernal64@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
There are at least two of us!