《午夜之南》创意总监谈Xbox出资争议

1. 19:49
   Rock Paper Shotgun

   South Of Midnight director says Xbox funding it was "unsustainable", at least in hindsight

   South of Midnight creative director David Sears said Xbox funding the game was "unsustainable", at least in hindsight. Sears, who left Compulsion Games in March 2025, said he worried throughout development that the money would be cut off, and that he probably would not have funded it himself. Compulsion Games was among the studios Microsoft parted ways with this year.

2. 19:36
   IGN

   South of Midnight Creative Director Says He Would Have Turned Off Xbox 'Money Tap' Earlier, Calls Funding 'Unsustainable'

   South of Midnight creative director David Sears said in an interview that he always worried Xbox's generous funding for the game would end, and that he probably would have turned off the "money tap" earlier himself. The Xbox Game Studios-published title launched in 2025, seven years after Compulsion Games' previous game, and failed commercially despite critical acclaim. Compulsion split from Xbox this year, and Sears praised Microsoft for letting studios spin off rather than shutting them down.

3. 18:57
   VGC

   South of Midnight Director Says He Wouldn't Have Funded It as Xbox, Knew 'Rome Would Burn'

   South of Midnight director David Sears said he probably wouldn't have funded the game if he had been running Xbox, believing a big company would eventually cut its least profitable parts. The game launched on Xbox consoles and PC in April 2025 and came to PS5 and Switch 2 in March 2026, attracting over one million players in its first three weeks. Microsoft cut five studios in July 2026, and Compulsion Games was allowed to go independent rather than being shut down.

4. 05:38
   Reddit · Gaming Leaks and Rumours

   South of Midnight Creative Director David Sears Says He Raised Budget Concerns Internally

   David Sears, creative director of South of Midnight, said he internally expressed concern that the game's high budget was unsustainable and would have traumatic downstream results. He said he wanted to make the game but, if running Xbox, would likely have cut off the money flow sooner. He added that in hindsight the spending was unsustainable, so a shocking outcome was inevitable.

5. 05:00
   Kotaku

   South of Midnight Director Says He Doesn't Think Xbox Should Have Funded It

   Compulsion Games creative director David Sears said in a MinnMax interview that he probably would not have funded South of Midnight himself, calling the project unsustainable in hindsight. He said he had long worried the money would eventually stop, and noted today's Microsoft is "more humane" than the company he knew in the '90s. Compulsion was spun out of Microsoft in Xbox's recent restructuring, taking all its IP and an undisclosed amount of financial runway.

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