South of Midnight developer Compulsion Games has said its role at Xbox “is not to make blockbusters like Call of Duty”, as it shares an early player milestone for the action adventure game.
South of Midnight was released for Xbox consoles and PC, including Xbox Game Pass, on April 8, and according to Compulsion Games CEO Guillaume Provost, the game has attracted more than one million players in its first three weeks.
It’s unclear how many of these one million players have come from Game Pass versus full sales, but South of Midnight’s peak Steam player count of just 1,483 suggests most have come via subscription.
When asked about his feelings on South of Midnight’s performance so far, Provost told GameRant, “I can confidently say we’ve had more than a million players on South of Midnight since its release.”
In comparison, Hi-Fi Rush attracted 2 million players in its first five weeks of availability, according to Bethesda. Rebellion’s Atomfall cleared 2 million players in around two weeks, and Obsidian’s Avowed is estimated to have reached a huge 6 million players in its opening month.
The Compulsion CEO went on to highlight how he views the studio’s role within Microsoft, stating that he believes it “is not to make blockbusters like Call of Duty, but to provide games that add distinctiveness, where we can either serve audiences that haven’t been served before or create projects that add diversity to the portfolio.”
He added: “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.”
VGC’s South of Midnight review called the game “a gorgeous adventure with wonderful performances, striking visuals and solid platforming gameplay”. It added: “combat, however, is repetitive and reductive in equal measure, letting the overall package down considerably.”
