Compulsion Games launched their most recent project, South Of Midnight last month with pretty solid fanfare and reception. Now thanks to a recent interview with Gamerant, we now know the game has reached 1 million players in less than a month.
The interview went over a variety of topics and is worth checking out for yourself, but of specific note was the player count. South Of Midnight launched on April 8th into Xbox Game Pass on PC and Xbox consoles. It also had an early access period beginning on April 3rd. While we haven’t been given specific’s by Xbox themselves, Guillaume Provos, the CEO of Compulsion let it be known of the major milestone. “I can confidently say we’ve had more than a million players on South Midnight since its release,” said Provos.
While some may think this is a small number for a first party game that launched on Game Pass, keep in mind that it is on the smaller end in terms of scale. For reference Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders launched on Game Pass back in January and hit 500,000 players after 1 week. Atomfall, which also dropped into Game Pass in March hit 2 million players in just a few weeks. Atomfall was on all platforms mind you, but a big share of those players came from Game Pass.
Additionally Provos said during the Gamerant interview that Compulsion’s role within Xbox Game Studios isn’t to create blockbusters, but to create unique experiences.
“I’m passionate about that being part of the mission for the studio moving into the future. In terms of what audience, what experiences, and what areas of the world we’ll represent next, I can’t tell you. But I think it’s an important role within Xbox for us to be a brand that appeals to people from all walks of life.”
An Ode To The South
As Provos said, South Of Midnight was built with a lot of passion and it's easy to see. Having reviewed it for Gamer Social Club I can say I was drawn in by its charm from the moment I stepped into Hazel’s shoes. Designed as an action-adventure title it got a lot of inspiration from the south and was a truly unique experience, one I’m glad I got to play.
Where Compulsion goes from here is anyone’s guess. Many would love to see them return to the south and tell more stories in the South Of Midnight. I personally would love to see more from We Happy Few as well, which with the backing of Xbox could see its full potential realized. Knowing Compulsion their creativity will likely lead them to another new IP. Regardless of what they do I will happily be there to enjoy it!
