Compulsion Games officially separates from Xbox – "The team told me we would rather eat rocks and drink gasoline than be split up"

Compulsion Games is officially independent again after management acquired the studio from Xbox. CEO Guillaume Provost said the deal was structured around keeping the team intact, and the studio is now working through a transition that returns both the company and its publishing rights to Compulsion.

The move matters because it gives the studio control over its own future at a time when the industry is still dealing with layoffs and tighter funding. Provost said some staff had already left after he warned the team that closure was a possibility, before Microsoft opted to spin the studio out instead of shutting it down.

Compulsion also regains ownership of its IP, including Contrast, We Happy Few, and South of Midnight. Provost said the studio is meeting with potential partners and exploring permanent funding options, with the goal of becoming self-sustaining rather than relying on a parent company.

For developers, this is a reminder that studio independence can be both a rescue path and a reset: it preserves a team, but it also shifts the burden onto leadership to secure publishing, cash flow, and future production capacity. Compulsion says it wants to keep making unusual stories and worlds, but it will do so under a leaner, more business-conscious model.