Compulsion Games Completes Buyout From Xbox, Returns to Independence With Its IP
Compulsion Games has completed its management buyout from Microsoft and is once again an independent studio. CEO Guillaume Provost confirmed the deal closed on August 11, 2025, returning the Montreal-based developer to the standalone status it held before Xbox acquired the studio in 2018 (VGC).
The buyout brings Compulsion's intellectual property back in-house. Provost said the studio regained ownership of all three of its titles — Contrast, We Happy Few, and South of Midnight — along with their publishing rights (VGC). That means sales of those games now flow directly to the studio rather than to a corporate parent.
The path to independence ran through the threat of closure. In June 2026, Kotaku reported that Xbox planned to shut Compulsion down (Kotaku). The studio is best known for South of Midnight, a Peabody Award-winning title, and We Happy Few, a dystopian action-adventure. Rather than disband, the team chose to stay together. Provost told GamesBeat that the decision to pursue the buyout came after the team made clear it would rather remain united than be dissolved (VGC).
Compulsion was not the only studio to leave. In July 2026, Compulsion, Double Fine, and Undead Labs each issued statements about their departure from Xbox. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma confirmed that Compulsion and Double Fine would return to independent operations (Pure Xbox).
For Compulsion, the buyout is also a fresh start on new projects. Some of the team is already working on a title that was in development when the closure was announced, and the studio is in talks with other companies about potential partnerships (VGC). The studio's website lists open job positions, and Compulsion covers full relocation costs for employees who join its Montreal office (Compulsion Games).
Provost announced and confirmed the buyout and the return of IP ownership in an interview with GamesBeat (GamesBeat). A management buyout — where a company's own leadership buys it from its corporate owner — gave Provost and his team a way to keep the studio alive on their own terms.
For players, the practical effect is straightforward. South of Midnight, We Happy Few, and Contrast remain available, and the money from those sales now supports the people who made them. Whatever comes next from Compulsion will come from a studio that chose independence over dissolution — and kept its games in the bargain.
