Sweet Baby's South Of Midnight Wins ANOTHER DEI Award As Studio On The Brink Of Closure

[00:00:00]Just a few weeks ago, we found out that Compulsion Games was leaving the Xbox team, going independent again, and they were begging studios on LinkedIn to work with them and to hire them. And so far, we haven't heard of anything coming from that, but we do know that it has won another award. This time, the Games for Change award, because it's just so stunning and it's just so brave. I have a few different things to show off, but before into the topic, if you enjoy the content I create, check out the links in the description, join the community in my live streams, and consider supporting through Patreon or YouTube memberships.

[00:00:40]Now, who cares about winning awards for artistic reasons? Who cares about winning awards for creating an amazing story or cool character designs or a big world that actually has a lot of lore behind it. No, no, no. I only care that my games win awards for being stunning and brave. And that is exactly what happened here. Because it had a message, because it actually was supposed to like recalibrate people's brains and make them see the world in a new light, it has gotten praise for that. It is so funny to me when we see situations like this, because this isn't going to make anybody want to buy a game. The people that wanted to support South of Midnight, because they pushed a message with it, because they highlighted diversity with it, because the team behind it was diverse, they've already bought it and they've already played it.

[00:01:40]And so, a normie isn't going to see this and go, "Wow, it's so stunning. I need to monetarily support it." So, this is a Kotaku article on it saying, "South of Midnight studio is still winning got the awards even after Xbox cut it loose."

[00:01:56]It's important that we remember that games are made by people. If a game doesn't make money, that is the reason why it doesn't get a follow-up, why it gets cut loose, why the studio goes under, why they go through layoffs. I understand that there are people out there who say, "But it won an award, so that counts."

[00:02:18]No, it really doesn't. It only matters if it wins awards because it's actually a good game, not because it got a participation trophy. So, Compulsion Games is one of the five studios Microsoft moved to cut loose during its latest round of mass layoffs at Xbox.

[00:02:34]And the first thing it did after going independent is win another award for 2025 South of Midnight. If you don't know, this is a game that they reportedly put a hundred million dollars into. That is an insane amount of money for an experience this forgettable.

[00:02:51]South of Midnight allegedly had cost around a hundred million dollars including both production and marketing, but it is also a game that massively underperformed. Sure, we do not have the exact sales numbers, but about a month after release we found out that it reached over a million players, but that's not sales because this went on to Game Pass day one. The only actual numbers we have are over on Steam, and it peaked at release with 1,438 players. That is a nothing compared to the numbers that a game that cost a hundred million dollars should be hitting. The owner estimations on the very high end, which usually Game Analytic is the most accurate I would roughly say, that's claiming 92,000 copies sold, but on the highest of the high end, it was at 146,000 copies. And this isn't a full-price game, first of all. It goes on sale very consistently, but it is only a $40 game in total. So, even if I am being extremely generous and saying that it sold 146,000 copies on Steam at the full price of $40, that would be 5.8 million dollars.

[00:04:08]Never mind the 30% that Steam takes, never mind any other sort of cuts. That is not even close to the 100 million dollars they spent in shore with game development. A massive amount of money goes into the people you are actually paying and the employees that you have on your team. And it doesn't necessarily mean that all of the money or even half of that amount of money goes into the true development of the experience, but either way, this is still an extremely bad look. Now, going back to this article, they do boast about the fact that it took the top game of the year honor at this year's Games for Change Festival in New York this week. Buddy, who cares? Winning awards doesn't mean that your game sells, and it's very clear that they're not going to make a follow-up to this because the first one didn't sell. South of Midnight is about rising up in challenging times when it gets tough, about growth, about resilience. And the word change right now feels very timely for us because Compulsion Games is going back to being independent, said the producer and studio general manager. That is scary.

[00:05:20]That is exciting. We built something special, and this team and I know our team, my friends, our friends, will carry our spirit wherever we go and spread it across the industry. Oh my god. You just had to take to the stage and say, "When times are tough, you need to be a bigger person." We get it.

[00:05:43]Individuals like this do not like the state of the world, and especially the state of the United States. And I'm not saying it is bad that you have criticisms, or it is bad that you have an opinion that is different from mine, but my god, these people constantly virtue signaling and saying that we need to be better than those around us. And when times get tough, we need to accept the challenge.

[00:06:08]It's just so cringeworthy.

[00:06:11]So, South of Midnight has now won multiple awards, including a Peabody, which yes, is another award that you generally win when you have a product that is meant to push a message. It's not, "Oh, your game is the best artistically and creatively." No, no, no, it is because you did something to push a social change, and it is the social justice award.

[00:06:39]>> [snorts] >> And it seemed emblematic of the type of critically lauded games Xbox wanted its smaller studios to make for Game Pass.

[00:06:46]"It's inspiring to see the team at Compulsion Games recognized with a Peabody award for South of Midnight."

[00:06:52]The Xbox chief content officer, Matt Booty, wrote just 2 months ago. Yeah, but ultimately, they are still a company that needs to make money. If your game and doesn't bring in the dollars, your game isn't going to be applauded by them internally. And the comments of Kotaku's post are pretty freaking funny. "Awards mean nothing. The game didn't sell.

[00:07:18]Winning is pointless if it doesn't pay the bills. Hang their award above the fryer at McDonald's.

[00:07:26]The game just wasn't that good." And this is the problem that I had with it.

[00:07:32]I don't believe that it was the most narrative-heavy game. I don't think it was the most DEI-filled piece of slop I've ever played. It wasn't a Bloomen Rage or a Dustborn or a Relooted, but at the same time, it just wasn't good. I actually thought that the visuals were quite interesting. I thought that the boss fights were actually pretty neat, but the combat got extremely repetitive.

[00:07:57]It was way too easy and too boring, and the story wasn't that good, and the characters weren't that good. And so, I did have a couple of things I liked about it, but they definitely weren't enough to ignore the bad with this game.

[00:08:14]The pros certainly did not outweigh the cons, and you can continue to win awards. Like, congratulations, I guess, if this is all you care about, but just a few days ago, the studio was on social media basically begging for work. They said, "We invite partners to leverage the talent and creativity of the award-winning team behind South of Midnight, a game that was honored with a BAFTA Award, a Peabody Award, seven Canadian Game Awards, and recognized on multiple best games of 2025 lists. With deep experience in creating acclaimed original IP, we bring our artistry, technical expertise, and collaborative approach to every project. So, please give us work. We really need it. We weren't expecting this to happen, but maybe you should have because you made a game that just didn't sell." And, as I will highlight one more time, the 24-hour peak is 32, in game right now is 19, and this is a single-player game, so people come and people go. But, when your all-time peak on a major platform like Steam is not even 1,500, yeah, you are absolutely screwed. So, congratulations to them for winning another DEI award, but it just leads to people pointing and laughing at you.

[00:09:32]But, that's all that I really had to discuss in this video. Let everyone know your thoughts in the comments below if you found this important and informative. Make sure to give it a like, share, and subscribe to the channel. And if you didn't, give it a dislike. I appreciate your support either way, but I'll talk to you all again in the next video really soon.